Three way data analysis (genotypes, environments and traits) is usually a time consuming process which influences the efficiency in a routinely plant breeding program, and become critical considering the limited period of time between the harvest and the next sowing. Data of two maize populations evaluated in three contrasting environments (two irrigated and one under rainfall conditions) was used to explore the effectiveness of a biplot graphical tool in a selection scheme. A set of one hundred families was randomly taken from each population and characterized by days to anthesis, plant height, ears per plant, husk cover, and grain yield, using unreplicated experiments per site. The selection criteria were based on grain yield and in a multiple-trait selection applied to data from the two favorable environments; additionally, data from all environments was explored using a graphical display tool. The biplot approach assisted to improve the identification of families with higher grain yield mean, which were also less influenced by the environment effects. The two favorable environments were the best for discriminating families, compared with the rain fed site, being the last the target environment. The entries by traits biplot was not as practical in identifying families as was the entries by sites for grain yield. Results showed that biplot display is a fast and powerful tool that makes additional contribution in the identification of outstanding families using three way data in a routinely plant breeding program.