Round Sankey
A circular variant of the classic Sankey diagram. Categories sit on the rim as arcs, and ribbons inside the circle represent directed flows from source to target. Ideal for trade flows, migration patterns, inter-team communication, or any "from X to Y" dataset where you want to see both incoming and outgoing volume at a glance.
Examples
When to Use
- Showing directed flows between a moderate number of categories (3–12)
- Comparing the relative volume of inbound vs. outbound activity per node
- Trade or migration analysis between regions
- API call patterns between microservices
- Inter-department or inter-team collaboration mapping
Data Roles
Build These Examples
Source, Target, and Values are all you need for a single diagram — add the optional Group well to break the canvas into small-multiple panels.
Settings
Layout
Arc Thickness
numberArc thickness as percentage of outer radius (1–20).
Default:8Pad Angle
numberPadding between arcs in degrees (0–8).
Default:2Top N
numberLimit to top N arcs by total flow; 0 = unlimited (long tail collapses into an Others arc).
Default:0Sort
dropdownNode ordering: total desc/asc, alphabetical, or fixed insertion order.
Default:totalDescRibbons
Direction
dropdownShow arrowheads on ribbons (directed) or render them as undirected bands.
Default:directedColor Mode
dropdownPer-ribbon palette gradient, custom min→max, source-end, target-end, magnitude, or solid.
Default:gradientDefault Opacity
numberBase ribbon opacity (0–1).
Default:0.55Labels
Show Labels
booleanDisplay category labels around the arc.
Default:trueLabel Mode
dropdownCurved labels along the arc, or horizontal text.
Default:alongArcMin Arc Angle
numberHide labels for arcs smaller than this angle in degrees.
Default:2Common settings like Tooltip, Small Multiples, and Color Scheme are covered in Shared Concepts.
Tips & Best Practices
- Round sankey works best with fewer than 12 nodes — Top-N collapses the long tail into an "Others" arc when you exceed that
- Hover over an arc or ribbon to focus its connections; click to pin the focus state
- Use a sequential palette like "blues" or "teals" for ordinal categories, "vibrant" for distinct ones