Cosmographs are a kind of graph resembling pie charts, with significant differences as well. They are not as numerically oriented as pie charts and they are usually used in order to represent finances. Cosmographs have their advantages as well as their disadvantages and yet, they are used quite commonly.

Cosmographs are often used by government agencies to represent the amount of funds they applied to various projects. In such representations, the data which forms the whole, like the amount of funds allocated by the government, are represented on the left of the cosmograph, whereas the data that represents a part, like the amount of funds allocated for specific projects by the government, are mentioned on the right hand side of the cosmograph.

Cosmographs can also be used to represent fractions and percentages. They are also often used to highlight differences between various geographical regions. Such cosmographs can also be distinguished using various colors and patterns to make the differences clear and prominent.

Most cosmographs use the input-output model and this is the primary manner in which they have proved to be extremely useful. Cosmographs are technically difficult and challenging, and require technical mastery. Hence, while an important kind of graph, cosmographs are mainly restricted to specific uses only.