Benchmark

 Benchmarks in data visualizations is the use of charts and graphs to compare a company's or organization's performance against a set of standards or internal goals. Benchmarks in data are important because companies can compare themselves to competitors, which can help them achieve the best performance and maintain a competitive edge. Some examples of benchmarks visualizations include Bar Charts and Infographics. Bar Charts can be beneficial by showing your companies sales alongside their industries averages or competitor sales. Benchmarks in infographics can be important since you can present key performance indicators in a compelling visual format to your audience. 

In this first chart we are looking at the global average temperatures compared to the mid-20th century average temperature. All temperatures are in degrees Celsius. The graph was based on reports produced by NASA's Goddard Institute for Space Studies. The benchmark shown in this chart is the comparison of average temperature now with the mid-20th century temperature. The color showing the benchmark is the blue in this case. 

https://www.nytimes.com/2023/01/26/learning/whats-going-on-in-this-graph-feb-1-2023.html

This chart is another good example of a benchmark graph. This graph is displaying where people make friends by income rank. The benchmark in here is the thin dotted line that runs through the middle of each graph horizontally showing the average. The four variables in this graph is high school, college, work and in the neighborhood. This visualization helps make the benchmark comparison clear and effective especially with showing that anything above average is in dark blue and any data below average is light gray. 

https://www.nytimes.com/2023/02/02/learning/whats-going-on-in-this-graph-feb-8-2023.html