Visualization VocabularyDataviz vocabulary
Diagram: flow chart
Drawing: Adrien Taudière (CC0)
ggplot2 example: flow chart
Adrien Taudière (CC0); R code ↓; data: R/06_add_term.R (this lexicon) (CC0)

Classification

  • chart
  • networks and trees › schematic networks
  • flow

Channels

  • length; secondary: significance
  • area; secondary: importance of the step
  • spatial region; main: distance between nodes
  • shape; main: type of step (rectangle, decision diamond)

Variants

Attestation

Scientific literature

OpenAlex: 46 286 papers since 1899, 30% in the last five years; mostly in Engineering, Medicine, Computer Science; Wikidata

Seminal references

  • invention (1921) Gilbreth & Gilbreth (1921). Process charts: first steps in finding the one best way to do work. American Society of Mechanical Engineers; Wikipedia in English

R packages

R code of the ggplot2 example

library(ggplot2)
library(dplyr)

## How this lexicon's R/06_add_term.R adds a term: boxes for steps, diamonds
## for decisions, each decision answered by yes or no.
w <- 1.9   # half-width of a diamond
h <- 0.42  # half-height of a diamond
steps <- tribble(
  ~id, ~shape, ~x, ~y, ~label,
  "start", "box", 0, 5.5, "English term given",
  "id", "diamond", 0, 4.4, "Identifier valid and new?",
  "variant", "diamond", 0, 3.3, "Covered by an existing variant?",
  "registry", "diamond", 0, 2.2, "Category and sources known?",
  "complete", "diamond", 0, 1.1, "French term, category, definition?",
  "ok", "box", -1.5, 0, "Entry \"ok\"",
  "draft", "box", 1.5, 0, "Entry \"draft\"",
  "stop1", "stop", 3.1, 4.4, "Stop",
  "stop2", "stop", 3.1, 3.3, "Stop",
  "stop3", "stop", 3.1, 2.2, "Stop"
)
diamonds <- steps |>
  filter(shape == "diamond") |>
  rowwise() |>
  reframe(id = id, x = x + c(0, w, 0, -w), y = y + c(h, 0, -h, 0))
boxes <- filter(steps, shape != "diamond")
arrows <- tribble(
  ~x, ~y, ~xend, ~yend, ~answer,
  0, 5.3, 0, 4.4 + h, "",
  0, 4.4 - h, 0, 3.3 + h, "yes",
  w, 4.4, 2.7, 4.4, "no",
  0, 3.3 - h, 0, 2.2 + h, "no",
  w, 3.3, 2.7, 3.3, "yes",
  0, 2.2 - h, 0, 1.1 + h, "yes",
  w, 2.2, 2.7, 2.2, "no",
  -w, 1.1, -1.5, 0.2, "yes",
  w, 1.1, 1.5, 0.2, "no"
)

p <- ggplot() +
  geom_segment(data = arrows, aes(x = x, y = y, xend = xend, yend = yend), colour = "#535353",
               linewidth = 0.4, arrow = grid::arrow(length = unit(1.4, "mm"), type = "closed")) +
  geom_text(data = filter(arrows, answer != ""),
            aes(x = (x + xend) / 2 + ifelse(y == yend, 0, 0.1), y = (y + yend) / 2 + ifelse(y == yend, 0.14, 0),
                label = answer, hjust = ifelse(y == yend, 0.5, 0)), size = 2.3, colour = "#7d7d7d") +
  geom_polygon(data = diamonds, aes(x = x, y = y, group = id), fill = "#f3e3ec", colour = "#9b2367", linewidth = 0.4) +
  geom_tile(data = boxes, aes(x = x, y = y, width = ifelse(shape == "stop", 0.8, 1.9), height = 0.4,
                              fill = shape), colour = NA) +
  geom_text(data = steps, aes(x = x, y = y, label = label,
                              colour = ifelse(shape == "diamond", "dark", "light")), size = 2.3) +
  scale_fill_manual(values = c(box = "#9b2367", stop = "#535353"), guide = "none") +
  scale_colour_manual(values = c(dark = "#262626", light = "white"), guide = "none") +
  scale_x_continuous(limits = c(-2.6, 3.6)) +
  labs(title = "A new term is checked, then saved as ok or draft",
       subtitle = "How a term is added to this lexicon, simplified",
       x = NULL, y = NULL,
       caption = "Data: the code of R/06_add_term.R in this lexicon") +
  theme_lex_viz(grid = "", arrows = "") +
  theme(axis.text = element_blank())

Sources (34)

131 occurrences in the corpus; indexed by 7 books

Show the 34 sources

Cite this entry

Stable addresshttps://dataviz.adrientaudiere.com/en-only/term/flow-chart.html

ReferenceTaudière Adrien. 2026. flow chart. In Visualization Vocabulary, version 1.0.0. IdEst. https://dataviz.adrientaudiere.com/en-only/term/flow-chart.html

BibTeX
@incollection{taudiere2026-flow-chart,
  author    = {Taudière, Adrien},
  title     = {flow chart},
  booktitle = {Visualization Vocabulary},
  year      = {2026},
  version   = {1.0.0},
  publisher = {IdEst},
  url       = {https://dataviz.adrientaudiere.com/en-only/term/flow-chart.html},
  note      = {CC0 1.0}
}

Page created on 2026-10-13. Text last changed on 2026-11-09. Images last changed on 2026-11-09. Numbers computed on 2026-10-22.