Part of a whole

Radial tree

Places the root near the centre and distributes descendants radially.

Diagram
Hierarchy
Structure

What it answers

How does a hierarchy branch around its root?

Shape: Branches arranged around a centre
What it shows: Branching and ancestry.

Example

The question

How is our product catalogue organised?

Product catalogue as a radial tree

The catalogue drawn outward from the centre: four categories on the inner ring, eleven product lines on the outer ring. Computing: laptops, monitors, tablets; Mobile: phones, cases, chargers; Audio: speakers, headphones; Accessories: cables, bags.

Illustrative data. It belongs to no company.

When to use it

Use it when

Wide hierarchies where a radial layout helps overview.

Avoid it when

Precise depth comparison or long labels in crowded arcs.

How to read it

Start at the central root and follow outward links.

Note

Radius usually means depth rather than magnitude.

The data you need

Layout: Parent-child table
Fields: NodeID: text; ParentID: text/blank; Label: text; Value: number when size is encoded
One row is: One node in a parent-child hierarchy. What is the grain?
Rules: Node IDs must be unique. Parents must exist. Reject cycles. Define leaf-only versus inclusive parent values.
Optional: Alternative: Level1,Level2...,Value. Tree diagrams can omit Value.
Preparation: Validate unique node IDs, parent links, roots and absence of cycles. For size-encoded hierarchies, state whether totals are leaf-only or inclusive.
Units: Tree levels and branch position are structural. Size-encoded components use a named value unit; parent shares divide by the chosen parent total.

A parent-child table: each row names its parent, which together form the tree.

Worked example

Root at centre connectsA, B on first ring; A1 lies on the next ring underA. Radius shows level, not value.

NodeID	ParentID	Label	Value
root		All	100
a	root	A	60
b	root	B	40

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