Sankey Diagrams

Many of you have asked if I could name some software tools that can be used for drawing Sankey diagrams. So I am compiling a list of programs I have tested, or came across during my research. By no means do I wish to endorse any of these products, however, I do have a favorite, as some of the readers of this blog might have observed already.

I am grouping the list in (1) softwares that are specifically designed to make Sankey diagrams, and (2) other programs that do have Sankey as one of their features, but the main purpose for using the software is different. Time permitting I will do individual pages for the tools, and include my test notes and screenshots. The lists are sorted alphabetically.

Please note: This page is work in progress. This list is to be understood as non-exhaustive! Do you know of any Sankey diagram software not listed here? Let me know

Dedicated Sankey Tools

• e!Sankey 2.0 (website)
  First released in November 2006, a tool by German software firm ifu Hamburg. Latest version 2.0 pro with Excel interface. This is one of the tools I use for my work, see sample diagrams on this blog. A free 30-day trial version can be downloaded.
• S.DRAW 4.x (website)
  S.DRAW, originally developed by Austrian company STENUM is now being handled by JKMAS in the US and various distributors in Europe. A single license is 485 US$/405 €. Comes with a hardlock key (dongle). A demo version is available.
• Sankey Editor 3.0 (website)
  A dedicated Sankey drawing software by an Austrian company named LogSim. First released (with version number 3.0) in 2005. Single license is 149 €. Demo version available.
• Sankey Helper 2.1 (website)
  A freeware tool that allows to draw simple Sankey diagrams in Excel. It was one of the first software for Sankey diagrams available.
• SimSankey (website, in German only)
  This small-scale tool by a company named ’similar’ from Germany, allows to draw simple top-down-oriented energy diagrams.

Former Sankey diagram software whose fate is unclear

• Sankey 3.1 (no website known)
  The fate of this tool is unknown. It was developed and distributed by Fichtner Consulting from Stuttgart, Germany in the late 1990ies. However, no information or screenshots can be found on the web.
• Sankey.Vis (website currently unavailable)
  From the makers of the interactive Sankey diagram tool at Bauhaus University Weimar. The developers seem to have founded a company in Berlin and I was hoping to see this tool being developed further. Not sure what their plans are.
• Yekans (Website)
  This software probaly never got beyond the first idea, and a small website. Will try to contact Kieran Green to see what his plans on this project are.

Other Software with Sankey functionality

• CASAnova (website)
  Subtitle: An Educational Software for Energy and Heating Demand, Solar Heat Gains and Overheating Risk in Buildings. This freeware tool allows to enter numerous parameters for a building, and will eventually produce a Sankey diagram of energy flows
• eMPlant
  eMPlant (part of the UGS Tecnomatix Suite) claims to “Material flow may be visualized in a Sankey chart that, at a glance, shows transport volume in the context of the layout”. I have not verified this information.
• GaBi (website)
  A Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) software for analyzing the environmental impacts of a product. This tool by German maker PE Europe can visualize the flows of material in a life cycle with Sankey diagrams.
• HSC Chemistry (website)
  A simulation software package for chemical processes by Outotec Research Oy from Finland. “The HSC-Sim module has built-in ‘Sankey diagrams’ to visualize the distribution of the elements and process variables”.
• LESOSAI (website)
  A software for calculating the heat balance of a building. Developed by the Solar Energy and Building Physics Laboratory at the EPFL in Lausanne, it is marketed by a company E4tech. Sankey diagrams for heat losses in a building can be dispayed.
• SimaPro (website)
  Another LCA software, by PRé Product Ecology Consultants from Amersfoort, Netherlands. The contributions of the individual life cycle phases are displayed in a tree-like Sankey-style graphic.
• SIMBA (website)
  A simulation software developed by ifak at the University of Magdeburg, Germany. SIMBA was developed to simulate wastewater systems, and also has a Sankey display feature.
• STAN 1.1.3 (website)
  STAN is a software for substance flow analysis, developed by inka software for the University of Technology of Vienna, Austria. It has a feature for displaying flows in their network diagrams as Sankey arrows. Beta version 2.0 announced on April 1, 2008
• STOAT (website)
  A dynamic simulation software solution for waste water treatment plants from Berlin-based consulting firm EnviaTec GmbH. Has a simple Sankey diagram interface, that allows to show, e.g. COD loads.
• T*SOL (website)
  A software for dynamic simulation of solar thermal systems by Valentin Energiesoftware GmbH in Germany. The energy balance can be displayed as table or as a Sankey flow chart.
• Umberto (website)
  A material flow management and process modeling software by ifu Hamburg GmbH. A display of the flow values in a Sankey diagram has been a feature of this software since version 3.0 (current version is Umberto 5.5). They are also the maker of e!Sankey (see above).