Lecture 7 (13 Oct 2020)

Spatial Data

Links from lecture

Checkout this projection tool by Berhnard Jenny: http://www.cartography.oregonstate.edu/demos/AdaptiveCompositeMapProjections/

https://thetruesize.com/

http://maps.stamen.com

https://colorbrewer2.org/

https://worldmapper.org/

Interactive part: Animated Cartogram of COVID-19 cases

1. Watch the animated cartogram "Map animation: Covid-19’s spread across the world" on the WorldMapper page: https://worldmapper.org/map-animation-covid19/
a) List three observations you can make regarding the change of COVID-19 cases over time.

• Cases first occurred in China
• Korea is first country to record large amounts of cases after China
• Map reflects the poulation density of the country
  b) What do you think are positive and negative aspects of the solution? Relate your judgment to the cartogram technique as well as to the animation.
• Direction of the change of spread but hard to read precisely
• Usable for simple argument like COVID is spreading over the whole world -> means of storytelling
• Not normalized by population
• Implementation is a GIF you cannot navigate

2. In a blog post, Gregor Aisch explains why they did not use a cartogram for the Brexit vote for the online map in the New York Times: https://vis4.net/blog/2016/06/to-cartogram-or-not-to-cartogram-the-brexit/
Go through his points of criticism concerning cartograms. Which ones do you think apply to the world mapper example from 1.?

• Unfamiliarity with the country sizes
• Comparison of sizes not possible
• Reading and comparing areas is hard