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PolarChart

The Polar chart (also known as the Radar chart) may be used in several ways to handle cyclic timeseries or comparisons on many dimensions. If it is called with a simple list of numbers, it treats each value as a logical axis and simply plots the values out as a star shape with as many points as there were values. This can be used very effectively to compare items on different criteria, for example several digital cameras might be compared on (price,zoom,resolution,color fidelity, memory size) each rated from 0 to 10 on an arbitrary scale.

Polar charts are also used as circular lineplots, typically for daily or annual timeseries where it makes sense to plot the values around a circle. They can also be used to represent genuinely directional data, such as a plot of wind-directions recorded over a month, or current flows at various locations on a map.

SharpPlot sp = new SharpPlot;
sp.SetMargins(12,6,0,0);
sp.PolarChartStyle = PolarChartStyles.Markers|PolarChartStyles.SurfaceShading|
         PolarChartStyles.GridLines|PolarChartStyles.HollowCenter;
sp.SetYRange(0,100);
sp.SetFillStyles(FillStyle.Opacity30);
sp.SetMarkers(Marker.Lozenge);
sp.SetXLabels(new string[]{"Strong","Fast","Tough","Versatile","Cheap"});
sp.DrawPolarChart(new int[] {80,60,45,77,93});

Worked Examples

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