[R] Recommended visualization for hierarchical data

[Jim Lemon]

On 01/13/2010 02:46 PM, Rex C. Eastbourne wrote:
> On Tue, Jan 12, 2010 at 5:26 PM, Rex C. Eastbourne<rex.eastbourne at gmail.com
>    
>> wrote:
>>      
>    
>> Let's say I have data in the following schema that describes the number of
>> purchases a company has received from each County in the US:
>>
>> State | County | Purchases
>> ---------------------------------------
>> NJ | Mercer | 550
>> CA | Orange | 23
>> ....
>>
>> I would like to visualize what states contribute the most to the overall
>> total, and furthermore within those states, what Counties contribute the
>> most. What are some recommended R visualizations for this type of data? I
>> created a treemap using map.market from the portfolio library, like the
>> following:
>>
>> http://zoonek2.free.fr/UNIX/48_R/g126.png
>>
>> Although this is an attractive visual, I want something that makes it
>> easier to compare the relative sizes of components at a glance (hard with a
>> treemap because rectangles have different aspect ratios). Does anyone have a
>> recommended alternate visualization?
>>
>> Thanks!
>>
>>      
> Just to clarify: I made up the above example for simplicity's sake to
> illustrate what I meant by "hierarchical" data. My actual data is not
> related to maps or geography, so a map-based visualization wouldn't work.
>
>    
Hi Rex,
Have a look at the hierobarp function in the plotrix package. It 
produces nested bars that begin with the overall value.

Jim