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Bump Chart Maker

Track how a ranking changed over time: who rose, who fell, and where they crossed. Upload your data and publish a free interactive bump chart you can embed anywhere.

免费创建 Bump Chart查看图库

什么是 Bump Chart？

A bump chart plots rank rather than value. Each item gets a line, the vertical axis is position (first at the top, last at the bottom) and time runs along the horizontal. Because rank is discrete and evenly spaced, the lines become clean parallel tracks that only move when an item actually overtakes another. That is the point: it makes crossings visible. League tables, best-selling products, most-visited countries and chart positions all suit it, and it answers "who overtook whom, and when" more directly than any chart of the underlying values.

什么时候使用 Bump Chart

  • Rank is what the audience cares about

    Who is first, who moved up, who dropped out of the top ten. Sport, sales league tables and popularity rankings all live in this shape.

  • Crossings are the story

    The moment two lines swap is the visual event a bump chart is built to deliver, and it is very hard to see in a chart of raw values.

  • The underlying values are hard to compare

    When the measures are on different scales or wildly different magnitudes, rank normalises them into something readable.

  • You have a handful of items over a handful of periods

    Around ten items across five to fifteen periods keeps the tracks distinguishable and the labels attachable.

什么时候不该用 Bump Chart

  • The size of the gap matters

    Rank hides magnitude completely. First and second may be neck and neck or an order of magnitude apart, and the chart looks identical either way.

  • Nothing much changes rank

    A set of flat parallel lines is a picture of stability that takes a lot of ink to say. State it in a sentence instead.

  • Too many items

    Twenty lines crossing repeatedly is a braid. Show the top ten and group the rest, or highlight two or three and grey the others.

  • There are ties or gaps in the data

    Rank needs a complete, unambiguous ordering at every time point. Missing periods break the lines and invite wrong inferences.

如何制作 Bump Chart

从电子表格到已发布的图表，一步一步来。

  1. 01Start from the bump chart template
  2. 02Shape your data as item, period, rank
  3. 03Upload or connect your data
  4. 04Label the ends, not the middle
  5. 05Publish, embed or export
阅读完整的 Bump Chart 指南

Bump Chart 的组成部分

Track
One item's line across every period. Colour and end labels are how a reader follows it through the crossings.
Rank axis
Position, with first at the top. It is inverted relative to a normal value axis, which is worth stating so nobody reads a fall as a rise.
Period
One column of positions. Bump charts assume evenly spaced, complete periods; uneven gaps distort the slopes.
Crossing
Where two tracks swap position: the visual event the chart exists to show. Give crossings room by keeping the periods well spaced.
Node
The marker at each item-period intersection. It anchors the eye and gives a tooltip somewhere to attach.
Highlight
One or two tracks in colour with the rest in grey. On any chart with more than about eight items, this is what makes it readable.

Bump Chart 的常见错误

Implying magnitude

Readers assume a big rise in rank means a big rise in value. Say what the underlying measure is, and consider putting it in the tooltip.

Plotting too many items

Past a dozen tracks the chart is decorative. Cut to the top ten, or highlight the few that matter and mute the rest.

Leaving the rank axis unexplained

An inverted axis where up means better is a convention, not an instinct. Label the top of the axis "1st" and the direction becomes obvious.

Ranking on a noisy measure

If tiny value changes flip positions, the chart will be full of crossings that mean nothing. Check the gaps before you plot the ranks.

Bump Chart：常见问题

Showing how rankings change over time: which items rose, which fell, and exactly when they overtook each other.

立即制作你的 Bump Chart

免费开始，300 多个模板，无需信用卡。

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