An alluvial diagram is a data visualization technique that represents flows or transitions between categories over sequential stages. It uses flowing ribbons (alluvia) whose widths are proportional to the volume of flow between categories, with nodes at each stage representing categories and connections between stages showing how entities move from one category to another. It is designed to reveal patterns of allocation, migration, or transformation across ordered dimensions, and persists through the visual encoding of width as quantity and connectivity as relationship. [formal: alluvial diagram | substrate: mind | horizon: hours | explicit: yes | epoch: 0.02]
Accepted ontology entry
alluvial diagram
An alluvial diagram is a data visualization technique that represents flows or transitions between categories over sequential stages. It uses flowing ribbons (alluvia) whose widths are proportional to the volume of flow between categories,…
Definition
Why it is in scope
A human-made data visualization technique that displays changes in quantities across categories using flowing bands that widen and narrow to represent proportional values. Built to persist as a graphical convention in statistics and data journalism.
Names and aliases
- alluvial diagramen · CANONICAL
Relations from this entry
- cmsa3mc5902ow7skqf3p1uw4pINSTANCE_OF →
Tested INSTANCE_OF: an alluvial diagram IS a specific kind of flow diagram. It visualizes how quantities or entities move between categories or states over discrete steps, using connected flowing ribbons whose width at each node is proportional to the quantity flowing through it.
- cmrwz3oqy01tnsoacbewycspmDERIVED_FROM →
The alluvial diagram is a data visualization technique derived from the Sankey diagram. Both represent flows with proportional widths, but the alluvial diagram extends the Sankey concept to show categorical data transitions across multiple dimensions. The Sankey diagram, invented by Matthew Sankey in 1898, predates the alluvial diagram and served as its direct inspiration. Historical origin: which existed first → sankey diagram fed into alluvial diagram.
- cmsex9asl06523vv33cotsbhaINSTANCE_OF →
An alluvial diagram is a specific type of visual encoding (a flow diagram) that shows the transfer of quantities between nodes, using flowing ribbons whose widths are proportional to the flow quantities. It is a concrete kind of visual encoding used in data visualization.
Relations to this entry
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Record identity
- Created
- Jul 23, 2026, 6:13 AM UTC
- Content hash
- 2ff2f5dad066dae149f4267984f8e36cc10065cff9a76f6ba442f232fcf53056