Hi everyone,

Let’s document our critique sessions on Github.

For each group, add as one comment the following points for one map & two geo-visualization you picked:

Map

What is the map of? (along with one screenshot/gif + url)
Who is the cartographer/publisher, when was this created?
Who is this map for?
What elements of this map work well? What don’t? What is unique about this map?

Geo-viz

What is the visualization of? (along with one screenshot/gif + url)
What type of geo-viz is it? (Cartogram/Choropleth/dot maps etc.)
What is the source of data, and what is the type of data visualized? (ordinal/nominal/quantitative/qualitative…)
What are the visual encoding used for each field of the dataset (line, angle, color…)
Critique (How effective is it at what it aims to do? What works well, and what could be better?)

Groups:

Tanaya, Roopam, Ipsha
Jitesh, Anurag, Aishwarya
Nikhil, Shravani, Sanjay
Kanchan, Preeti, Deshna, Akshay

Group 3: Nikhil, Shravani, Sanjay

Cartography 1 : The pulse of the park Yellowstone_Map-supp_ALL adapt 1190 1 https://www.nationalgeographic.org/hires/pulse-park/ https://www.nationalgeographic.com/news/2016/11/best-new-maps-atlas-design/ Cartographers : Martin Gamache, Arthur Middleton, Lawson Parker, Shelley Sperry, Lauren Tierney. Year of publishing : 2016 Who is this map for: Wildlife enthusiasts, Forest rangers, Hikers Thoughts and critique: This is a very aesthetically pleasing map but at the same time it is far too complex and dense. It tries to map an entire ecosystem in Yellowstone national park. The good thing is that it shows the directionality of the herd migration that happens in every season, especially hunting season in the park.

Geo-Viz 1: The True Size Of Countries

Screenshot (1) https://thetruesize.com/#?borders=1~!MTcyNTI2NzQ.MjQ3MzU0Mw*MzYwMDAwMDA(MA~!IN*MA.MTgwMDAwMDA)Nw Geo Viz Type : Interactive Cartogram Dataset and type : Area of countries is defined by square kilometres Position of countries on a Mercator map - Qualitative data is used Visual Encoding used: Hues are used to distinguish between countries that are selected by the user. The countries that are selected are translucent whereas countries that are not are opaque. Thoughts and critique: The users ability to drag and drop countries around the map makes the job of understanding and making mental models/ comparison very easy. The tooltip is barely readable. The fact that the right click unselects the country is not readily apparent.

Geo-Viz 2: Fans on the move Screenshot (2) https://intl.stubhub.com/fans-on-the-move

Geo Viz Type : Flow map Dataset : Ticketbis which is a ticketing and booking company and Elkano Data gathered attendance and ticket sales figures from all sports and music events over 3 years by using internal data along with data from partners within the ticketing sector. Visual Encoding used : The curved lines show the paths that fans take from their home countries to attend events. The colors denote different events like sports, music and theatre. The larger the destination circle, the higher the quantity of fans arriving from abroad. Thoughts and critique: The highlighting of critical information is done very well. Directionality is not apparent. Departure and arrival destinations are not made clear. Different color groups which are readily distinguishable should be used for the legend. For exaample warmer colours to denote sports and perhaps cooler colours to denote music events. An example of this confusing color encoding is where football and theatre look like they are in the same group but are not.

Group: Jitesh, Anurag, Aishwarya

Map

Eratosthenes’ World View

- What is the map of?

Eratosthenes’ World View is a world map

- Who is the cartographer/publisher, when was this created?

TITLE: World according to Eratosthenes DATE: 194 B.C. AUTHOR: Eratosthenes of Cyrene

- Who is this map for?

Greek world maps

- What elements of this map work well? What don’t? What is unique about this map?

This map was created keeping in mind some groundbreaking assumptions. Eratosthenes assumed that:

Earth was a sphere (First to establish the fact)
Placed Earth at the centre of the universe
Assumed that the Sun was so far away that the rays would fall parallel anywhere on Earth

Qualities of the map:

The calculations made were careful and successful than any previously attempted
There were theoretical errors due to the assumption the Earth is spherical, Eratosthenes was aware of these errors and proposed his map as an approximate projection than an absolute one
Map is created keeping Persia at its centre

Geo-viz

Geo viz 1 | Breathing Earth

-What is the visualization of? (along with one screenshot/gif + url) Link: https://www.space.com/38806-nasa-satellites-watch-earth-breathe-video.html The video shows Earth "breathing" repetitiously as the seasons change throughout each year, with snow coverage on the North and South Poles periodically growing and shrinking while green regions of vegetation do the same.

-What type of geo-viz is it? (Cartogram/Choropleth/dot maps etc.) Heatmap

-What is the source of data, and what is the type of data visualized? (ordinal/nominal/quantitative/qualitative…) Ordinal data (Quantitative) 1997 to 2017

-What are the visual encoding used for each field of the dataset (line, angle, color…) Color

-Critique (How effective is it at what it aims to do? What works well, and what could be better?) What works well: Clear representation of ice and vegetation Purple algae is represented over oceans Missing legends

Space of improvement: Missing year by year representation of changes Lacks comparison of years No track of seasons or months No micro/granular level isolation or zooming

Geo viz 2 |Twenty Years of India at Night

-What is the visualization of? (along with one screenshot/gif + url) http://india.nightlights.io/#/nation/2006/12 Using pictures from the Defense Meteorological Satellite Program that were taken each night between 1993 and 2013, researchers extracted location data on light output from 600,000 villages and then mapped these points on the India Lights map. The time-series analysis feature shows both the volume of data collected and reveals the large rural areas still lacking access to electricity across India.

-What type of geo-viz is it? (Cartogram/Choropleth/dot maps etc.) Dot maps

-What is the source of data, and what is the type of data visualized? (ordinal/nominal/quantitative/qualitative…) Nominal, Quantitive

-What are the visual encoding used for each field of the dataset (line, angle, color…) Opacity

-Critique (How effective is it at what it aims to do? What works well, and what could be better?) What works well: Clear representation Granular Detailed Comparable Year by year data point comparison Month by month comparison Clear metaphor of light with contrast of darkness Bold data represented over subtle map

Space of improvement: Missing legends in intensity

Group: Tanaya, Roopam, Ipsha

Geo-Viz 1: Aviation-100-years

Source: https://www.theguardian.com/world/ng-interactive/2014/aviation-100-years

Geo Viz Type : Flow map Cartographer: Kiln created this data visualization for The Guardian using data provided by FlightStats Year: 2014 Dataset : This data visualization tracks individual flights in near real-time as well as flight routes identifying areas with high traffic volume each and every day. Visual Encoding used : dots with (opacity) trajectory for the animation, lines for routes.

Critique: Pros- Clear representation Intensity at scale Comparable at instance Overview of how the world is connected Representation of time across the globe

Cons- Details on zoom-in missing Time can not be fixed as per any timezone drill down information is unavailable

Information available in holistic view at glace, details are missing.

Geo viz 2 : What Powers the World

It is an interactive visualization built with location data provided by the International Energy Agency showing how reliant each nation is upon fossil fuel, nuclear, and renewable energy

What type of geo-viz is it :  Dot Map

 What is the source of data, and what is the type of data visualized? Quantitative Data Data Source: International Energy Organisation

-What are the visual encoding used for each field of the dataset: Dots

Critique  The map is stylised in a dark theme and dots are shown in white colour, it gives an illumination like effect Interesting annotations are given Detail on demand (Once you hover over a country, its energy breakdown is given in percentage) Minimalistic interface

Colors of the dots could have been mapped to the source of energy

Source: https://www.gocompare.com/gas-and-electricity/what-powers-the-world/

Map 3: Artistic Map of scotland

Source:  https://www.lovelljohns.com/case-study/artistic-map-for-historic-environment-scotland/ Who is the cartographer/publisher, when was this created: Lovell Johns

Who is this map for : Artistic Map for historical environment of Scotland
What elements of this map work well: What don’t: What is unique about this map:   Variety in landscape and terrain, 3D look Realistic as well as artistic representation

Map 4: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Solar_eclipse_of_May_3,_1715

Akshay, Deshna, Kanchan, Preeti

Map 1

What is the map of? Extent of the Roman Empire in the 2nd Century http://ginnymason.com/thematic-maps-1

Who is the cartographer/publisher, when was this created? September 2012, National Geographic Magazine, Cartographer: Virginia W. Mason, Art: Matthew Twombly

Who is this map for? History buffs

What elements of this map work well? What don’t? What is unique about this map?

Illustrations are overlaid into the map.
The topography is defined by illustrated textures.
Glyphs define the different structures that show the extent of the roman empire.
It emphasizes the role of the structures in maintaining the extent of the Roman empire well after its Age of Expansion.

Viz 1

TITLE: Tube heartbeat (London) SOURCE: https://tubeheartbeat.com/london/ DATE: 2016 AUTHOR: Oliver O'Brien TOOL: Here.com

Geo viz type: Flow map Source of data: Transport for London Data type: Nominal, quantitative Data points: Tube map, Time of the day, Entry and Exit at every station, Interchanges at connecting node Visual encoding: Lines width - ridership at the station. Line colour - the colour of Tube. Dot colour - maximum interchange/exits/entry. Dot size - number of commuters in interchange/exits/entry. Arrow direction - higher flow in which direction. Critique: The data viz very clearly communicates the inflow and outflow of commuters at various times of the day. the direction of commuter flow is also apparent. change of base map to the dark theme after sunset is a nice touch. Cons are that encoding about interchange/exits/entry is not very obvious. Also, the overlapping of stations makes data tougher to read.

Viz 2

TITLE: US Gun Deaths per 100,000 SOURCE: https://projects.oregonlive.com/ucc-shooting/gun-deaths DATE: August 2017 AUTHOR: Mark Graves, U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention

Geo viz type: Choropleth Source of data: Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, National Center for Injury Prevention and Control, Statistics, Programming and Economics Branch Data type: Ordinal, nominal, quantitative Data points: Counties, number of deaths per 100K, causes of death Visual encoding: Colour progression - deaths per 100K Critique: Pros

Gives an overview at the first glance where maximum and least deaths due to gunfire happen
The detail on demand is given when you hover over the location

Cons

The narrative is not seamless across maps, maps become inconsistent with the given range of data.
The interrelation of gun deaths with the causes is not obvious.
Missing timeline
Bad headings about description of the map
Does not humanize the visualization
Ranges are not well defined

Thanks for adding these here, and for the interesting discussions in class. Closing this.

mapschool / course

Geo Viz Critiques #47

Map

Geo-viz

Groups:

Map

Eratosthenes’ World View

Geo-viz

Akshay, Deshna, Kanchan, Preeti

Map 1

Viz 1

Viz 2