3. Diagrammatic Representation of Geographical Data

Diagrammatic representation and visualization of geographical data is very simple, attractive and easy to understand and explain to the geographers as well as to the common literate people. It helps to explore the nature of data, the pattern of their spatial and temporal variations and understanding their relationships to accurately recognize and analyse features on or near the earth’s surface. This chapter focuses on the detailed discussion of various types of diagrams classified on a different basis. All types of one-dimensional (bar, pyramid etc.), two-dimensional (circular, triangular, square etc.), three-dimensional (cube, sphere etc.) and other diagrams (pictograms and kite diagram) have been discussed with suitable examples in terms of their appropriate data structure, necessary numerical (geometrical) calculations, methods of construction, appropriate illustrations, and advantages and disadvantages of their use. It includes all the fundamental geometric principles and derivation of formulae used for the construction of these diagrams. A step-by-step and logical explanation of their construction methods becomes helpful for the readers for an easy and quick understanding of the essence of the diagrams. Each diagram represents a perfect co-relation between the theoretical knowledge of various geographical events and phenomena and their proper practical application with suitable examples.