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 y

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...