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Interactive cartogram

Current rating 2.9/5 Impact: 3Accuracy: 33 votes
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Interactive cartogram
Local Council election results 1974 to 2008.
Visual types
Level of expertise
Source:
Social and Spatial Inequalities Research Group, University of Sheffield (Non-Commercial Research)
http://sasi.group.shef.ac.uk/maps/elections/local/step_thru_1974-2008.html
Interactive features
User can change which year to compare against and mouseover the map to identify a District Council
Benefits & pitfalls to avoid
  • Shaded maps can emphasise large areas much more than small ones - for example highlighting rural areas over urban, if fixed population areas such as Super Output Areas are shown. Consider providing an alternate mode in which values are represented by circles, or values are scaled by the area size (ie showing density).
  • When using colours to portray data values or types, ensure that the colors used are accessible to all users. Online tools such as ColorBrewer (www.colorbrewer.org) can help identify issues with colours used.
Create your own
  • Chloropleth maps can be created in a range of desktop GIS applications such as MapInfo and ArcGIS.
  • There are currently no commercial applications that create cartograms, although some routines are available on the web from Cartogram Central and World Mapper.