Database Reference
In-Depth Information
Reading the values off this chart can be done by following the lines and think-
ing about them: they look fairly similar. But the top of the October column is
slightly below on the image, so you could be forgiven for thinking October
is about the same or a little more. It turns out that October is 2.64% less than
June: 553849 versus 539566. You see this by carefully following the lines drawn
above it, but it is not as intuitive as showing the columns starting from the
same baseline.
An additional issue is that the height of the columns is also distorted. January
2010, with a value of 101586, has a height of 22 px; whereas December 2012,
with a value of 618987, has a height of 132 px. The ratio of the values is 6.077,
and the ratio of the heights is a ratio of exactly 6—a distortion of almost 8%!
It is clear that adding perspective in this manner must be approached with
caution, if done at all.
ADDITIoNAL DIMENSIoNS
A better use of 3D is to show an additional dimension, as shown in the Excel
graph displayed in Figure 1-6.
FIguRe 1-6
A better use of the third dimension
