When should I use a arc diagram?

Showing pairwise connections in a linear layout ● Highlighting clusters and hubs in small networks

When should I avoid a arc diagram?

When the network is dense and arcs overlap heavily ● When spatial position of nodes matters

What are common mistakes with arc diagrams?

Poor node ordering that maximizes arc crossings ● Not varying arc thickness to encode weight

Flow

Arc Diagram

Places nodes along a line and draws arcs between connected pairs, revealing clusters and bridges in network data.

Collaboration Network

Connections between team members

View data (8 rows)

Chart data table: Collaboration Network
value	source	target
5	Alice	Bob
3	Alice	Carol
4	Bob	Dave
2	Carol	Dave
6	Dave	Eve
3	Bob	Eve
1	Alice	Eve
2	Carol	Eve

Make an arc diagram with your data

Use an arc diagram when…

Showing pairwise connections in a linear layout
Highlighting clusters and hubs in small networks

Avoid when…

When the network is dense and arcs overlap heavily
When spatial position of nodes matters

Data it needs

Property	Value
Min Rows	4
Min Columns	2
Column Types	stringstring

Visual anatomy

Marks

circlearc

Channels

position-x (node order)arc height (distance)color (group)

Axes

x-axis: node labels

Guiding principles

Consider instead

Network Graph

When 2D layout reveals structure better

Chord Diagram

When showing flow volumes between groups

Common mistakes

Poor node ordering that maximizes arc crossings
Not varying arc thickness to encode weight

History

Wattenberg introduced arc diagrams in 2002 to visualize repetition in string data.

Accessibility notes

Provide an adjacency list or table of connections as a text alternative.

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Drop your CSV. You'll get an Arc Diagram plus four alternatives - ranked by which one actually fits your data best.

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