5 ms·

Relevant XKCD ("Heatmap"): http://xkcd.com/1138/ http://xkcd.com/1138/

• tempestn 12y ago
  Yes, exactly. Every time I see one of these I wish they would plot the per-capita occurrences as a heat-map instead, which would actually be useful. (A bit more work sure, but certainly doable.)
  • VikingCoder 12y ago
    https://www.google.com/search?q=cartogram&tbm=isch https://www.google.com/search?q=cartogram&tbm=isch
    • tempestn 12y ago
      Those are neat, but from what I can tell a cartogram is something different from what I'm describing. From wikipedia: "A cartogram is a map in which some thematic mapping variable – such as travel time, population, or Gross National Product – is substituted for land area or distance." So they're basically distorted maps, where the distortions are proportional to a variable. (It might help to include some explanation in your comment.)
      • VikingCoder 12y ago
        Yeah, the most common cartogram in those pictures is population. Therefore, each pixel of the cartogram contains an equal number of people in it. If you bin your heatmap into pixels with equal number of people in them, then HOT regions in the final image will correspond not merely to the number of people who live in an area (like in the xkcd), but to the percentage of a constant number of people. You can still recognize the underlying geography, because the population density isn't CRAZY skewed. Here are some well-documented cartograms that give you a feel for what they can do: http://www.npr.org/blogs/itsallpolitics/2012/11/01/163632378/a-campaign-map-morphed-by-money http://www.npr.org/blogs/itsallpolitics/2012/11/01/163632378...