8 How to Lie with Maps – Page 2

Lying with Maps

March 31, 2014April 1, 2014Minh Anh Nguyen

Both of the following maps are based on the same data of employment rates across all census tracts in Connecticut. However, due to the number of intervals that the data is divided into in each map, the two maps look very different from each other. In the first map, the data is divided into only 2 buckets, showing a clear distinction between the census tracts with high employment rates (64.9% – 79.6%) and the ones with low employment rates (less than 64.9%). Highly contrasted colors are also used to emphasize the difference between the 2 baskets.

On the other hand, the data is divided into 8 buckets in the second map. Colors of the same hue and slightly different shades are used in symbolizing the baskets. It seems like the employment rates across the census tracts in Connecticut are quite even, with only a few census tracts having slightly higher rates of employment than the others.

The above maps have demonstrated how mapmakers can lie with maps and give totally opposite impressions to viewers, just by changing some of their decisions on map elements in making maps.

Assignment 8

March 31, 2014April 7, 2014Raymond Li

This sample map shows the percentage of minorities in the school districts. Using many gradients, I was able to create ranges that are very similar in color. Therefore, I was able to show that in the small area of CT, the percentage of minorities was similar throughout the towns/cities. If I wanted to show extreme differences, I would have used less gradients and ranges and had colors that contracted each other. In this map, There was a big range, but the colors representing each gradient was a similar color.
In the second map, I used data from IPC. I calculated the total number of injuries in CT and also added in population statistics. Using those stats, I was able to calculate the injuries per capita. Most cities/towns had a relatively low level of injuries. However, to make the map show an extreme difference, I used many gradients, but also chose different colors to represent each. For instance I used blue, orange, and red to show a greater contract between colors.
The third map shows the same data, but using the same color. Because the ratios are so low and similar, it looks like as if there is no difference in ratio of injuries in each town/city. However, this is not the case since the Hartford area as well as Cromwell, have the highest ratio, but it is not shown in the third map

Lying!

March 31, 2014March 31, 2014skb

Assignment 8

March 31, 2014April 5, 2014Ben Peterson

The two data visualizations below present the same date in very different ways. Both aim to give a geographical visualization of individuals over the age of 25 in given Connecticut Counties who reported never graduated High School. The first shows a more narrow spectrum of the data by only separating the various percentages of those not graduating high school into two different categories, while the second visualization shows three different categories in color all of which are similar. The first would suggest these counties are very different and divided, while the second would suggest they are very alike. One has to be a lie, so this would suggest that we’ve accomplished our goal in lying with maps.