A Practical Guide to Graphics Reporting

CHAPTERSIX

Cartography for Journalists

 

Maps are,perhaps,the most common types of information graphics. In addition to serving a variety of purposes in communications design,such as forecasting the weather, locating the scene of a news event or plotting statistical information geographically, maps are also used by the government, private and public companies and community organizations.Road maps provide us with directions for how to get to where we’re going. Land-use maps are used to outline a city’s zoning parameters. Topographic maps show the physical features(i.e., water, mountains, valleys, etc.) of land. Statistical maps associate numerical data with specified areas of land. In fact, for every known location in the world, any number of ...