Visualize This, 2nd Edition

Ch.7Visualizing Space

Location is inherent in many of the things we do. As you read these words, you're aware of where you physically are in the world, and it's increasingly easy to pull out a digital map to find directions to where you want to go. There's an immediate connection to location, which makes maps a great way to visualize geographic data for understanding and communicating spatial patterns.

Mapping spatial data shares much of the process required by visualizing data with charts. However, the added dimension of physical location brings with it different considerations.

For example, a plot that uses abstract x- and y-coordinates can be easily transformed between linear and logarithmic scales to improve readability. Transforming a map that uses latitude and longitude can't just be cropped, zoomed, and stretched without considering the preservation of area, distance, and boundary shapes.

There are separate fields of study to analyze spatial data and to communicate with maps. This chapter focuses on a subset of these fields that uses maps to visualize data. You look at locations. Where are people, places, and things in the world? You look at spatial distributions. How are the people, places, and things spread out or concentrated within different regions? You look at change over space and time. Does spread change year over year?

WORKING WITH SPATIAL DATA

There are usually two categories when working with spatial data: the geography and the data associated with that ...