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Why a map isn’t always your best choice for a data viz
Make sure you also present the things that matter.
In 1957, French film director Albert Lamorisse invented the board game Risk. Gameplay takes place on a map of the world, where players move markers to track the territories, continents, and sea lanes they control. The goal: world domination. All the world, right before you, right in your sweaty palms.
When it comes to data visualization, are you playing world domination? There are too many data visualizations that use maps, losing our audience in irrelevant, distracting information. Most of the map visualizations I see could be better shown in alternative, simpler, more informative layouts like tables or graphs. Let’s take a look.
Maps — Why Use Them?
Maps help us visualize location, size, and distance between things. We’ve been using them since the beginning of time to find our way around the world.
Militaries use them to show landscape and adjacency — one of the most important aspects of the battlefield strategy. Where might I enter a battlefield with the least amount of effort? Or where, alternatively, might I obtain an advantage by placing my forces in an elevated terrain?
Israel’s location relative to its neighboring countries is a perfect example. Compare Israel’s position on a basic cartographic map against the same situation, expressed more clearly by in the landscape of the region:
A Map is Usually Not the Answer.
Unless an essential part of your job or mission involves navigation and placement of resources in natural or urban terrain, let’s consider what we need for an attention-getting, action-demanding presentation. Data visualizations help you quickly highlight and direct your reader’s attention to the most important, immediate issues that require their attention:
- A poor performance relative to goals;
- A risk of financial, operational, or experiential problems;
- An opportunity to…
