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Visualising Migration Flow Data with Circular Plots

    Nikola Sander, GUy J. Abel, Ramon Bauer, Johannes Schmidt

VID Working Papers, pp. 1-35, 2021/11/29

doi: 10.1553/0x003d0699


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doi:10.1553/0x003d0699

Abstract

Effective visualisations of migration flows can substantially enhance our understandingof underlying patterns and trends. However, commonly used migration maps thatshow place-to-place flows as stroked lines drawn atop a geographic map fall short ofconveying the complexities of human movement in a clear and compelling manner.We introduce circular migration plots, a new method for visualising and exploringmigration flow tables in an intuitively graspable way. Our approach aims to providedetailed quantitative information on the intensities and patterns of migration flowsaround the globe by using a visualization design that is effective and visually appealing.The key elements of the design are (a) the arrangement of origins and destinations ofmigration flows in a circular layout, (b) the scaling of individual flows to allow theentire system to be shown simultaneously, (c) the expression of the volume of movementthrough the width of the flow and its direction through the colour of the origin.Drawing on new estimates of 5-year bilateral migration flows between 196 countries,we demonstrate how to create circular migration plots at regional and country levelsusing three alternative software packages: Circos, R, and the JavaScript library d3.js.Circular migration plots considerably improve our ability to graphically evaluatecomplex patterns and trends in migration flow data, and for communicating migrationresearch to scientists in other disciplines and to the general public. Our visualisationmethod is applicable to other kinds of flow data, including trade and remittances flows.

Keywords: Migration, flow data, visualisation, D3