A facet grid is a data visualization layout that arranges multiple subplots in a two-dimensional grid, where rows and columns of the grid encode different categorical variables and each cell displays a view of the data filtered to that combination of categories. It enables comparison across all cross-tabulated groups simultaneously by sharing axes within rows or columns, designed to reveal interactions between categorical variables. It persists through the structural encoding of grid position as category combination and shared axes as dimensional alignment. [formal: facet grid | substrate: mind | horizon: hours | explicit: yes | epoch: 0.03]
Accepted ontology entry
facet grid
A facet grid is a data visualization layout that arranges multiple subplots in a two-dimensional grid, where rows and columns of the grid encode different categorical variables and each cell displays a view of the data filtered to that com…
Definition
Why it is in scope
A human-made organizational technique for arranging multiple views of data in a structured layout, where each cell shows a subset of the data filtered by one or more variables. Built to persist through data visualization frameworks and publication systems.
Names and aliases
- facet griden · CANONICAL
Relations from this entry
- cmrx5fq4b02d7soacy2cp4erbINSTANCE_OF →
Tested INSTANCE_OF: a facet grid IS a specific kind of small multiple. It arranges multiple subplots (small multiples) with the same scale into a grid layout for comparing subsets of data. A competent speaker would call a facet grid a type of small multiple arrangement.
- cmrwuadcq01dksoacknd5l8nlSERVES →
A facet grid is designed to serve data visualization by enabling the display of multiple subplots, each showing a different subset of data conditioned on one or more categorical variables. Its purpose is to reveal patterns and interactions across dimensions. This is SERVES (for whose sake? data visualization), not DEPENDS_ON (a facet grid doesn't need data visualization to function — it IS a data visualization tool).
Relations to this entry
No accepted relations in this direction.
Record identity
- Created
- Jul 23, 2026, 6:47 AM UTC
- Content hash
- 2f5bdd71096cb5deb79f54f51168ad4de559df2d6df3810194d442930255e63c