One of the world's largest corporate usability labs recently completed a study of treemaps using Honeycomb.
Bottom Line: People can analyze, compare and identify information 25-50% faster using treemaps versus tables; people prefer treemaps to tables in subjective ratings including ease-of-use, clarity, and usefulness; and people can learn to use treemaps quickly without any training.
Treemaps are faster
Users were timed to complete several types of tasks. In every instance users completed the task faster with a treemap.
Users prefer treemaps
When asked to rate each interface on a scale from 1 to 7, treemaps rated higher in every category.
Users master treemaps quickly
The time each user took to complete a task, relative to task sequence was recorded. Treemaps were always faster to use, and became even faster with more use.
