Comments on: Visualizing the 2d World with Cartograms http://www.ribbonfarm.com/2007/07/17/visualizing-the-2d-world-with-cartograms/ experiments in refactored perception Wed, 08 Feb 2012 03:00:57 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.2.1 By: Dan Haug http://www.ribbonfarm.com/2007/07/17/visualizing-the-2d-world-with-cartograms/#comment-2156 Dan Haug Thu, 29 Jan 2009 22:29:10 +0000 http://www.ribbonfarm.com/2007/07/17/visualizing-the-2d-world-with-cartograms/#comment-2156 There is a whole body of literature on geographic visualization. If you want a "how to" handbook look at "Some Truth With Maps" by Alan MacEachren. If you want the theory behind it, look at "How Maps Work" (also by MacEachren). You can also visit the GeoVISTA website at Penn State. There is a whole body of literature on geographic visualization. If you want a “how to” handbook look at “Some Truth With Maps” by Alan MacEachren. If you want the theory behind it, look at “How Maps Work” (also by MacEachren). You can also visit the GeoVISTA website at Penn State.

]]> By: kapsio http://www.ribbonfarm.com/2007/07/17/visualizing-the-2d-world-with-cartograms/#comment-349 kapsio Wed, 29 Aug 2007 19:05:31 +0000 http://www.ribbonfarm.com/2007/07/17/visualizing-the-2d-world-with-cartograms/#comment-349 Related but not directly: http://www.smashingmagazine.com/2007/08/02/data-visualization-modern-approaches/ Related but not directly:
http://www.smashingmagazine.com/2007/08/02/data-visualization-modern-approaches/

]]> By: Venkat http://www.ribbonfarm.com/2007/07/17/visualizing-the-2d-world-with-cartograms/#comment-262 Venkat Tue, 24 Jul 2007 02:57:09 +0000 http://www.ribbonfarm.com/2007/07/17/visualizing-the-2d-world-with-cartograms/#comment-262 Hmm... I do remember original Mercator as a kid. Most maps I see still show Greenland comparable to Australia (not Africa!). The Peter projection does look radically different from most maps I see, though I don't buy the politics of the thing. Hmm… I do remember original Mercator as a kid. Most maps I see still show Greenland comparable to Australia (not Africa!). The Peter projection does look radically different from most maps I see, though I don’t buy the politics of the thing.

]]> By: Gillette http://www.ribbonfarm.com/2007/07/17/visualizing-the-2d-world-with-cartograms/#comment-256 Gillette Fri, 20 Jul 2007 22:03:00 +0000 http://www.ribbonfarm.com/2007/07/17/visualizing-the-2d-world-with-cartograms/#comment-256 Very interesting use of maps. I think you have got the cause-effect wrong at "we use maps because we cant think effectively in 3D". Rather, maps make sense to be 2D when they are local, because locally the earth is 2D (maps predate Spherical Earth). The move from local to global keeping the same dimension is logical and of course helped by the fact that they are more easily carried around, set on a large table and studied, etc than a globe. It is because we use 2D medium that we cant think effectively in 3D is my take on it. Also is Mercator around at all? Even my kid atlas had the sinusoidal projection (which Wikipedia tells me is the same as Mercator equal area, also apparently Mercator himself used this one and not the crappy "Greenland is bigger than Africa" one). Very interesting use of maps. I think you have got the cause-effect wrong at “we use maps because we cant think effectively in 3D”. Rather, maps make sense to be 2D when they are local, because locally the earth is 2D (maps predate Spherical Earth). The move from local to global keeping the same dimension is logical and of course helped by the fact that they are more easily carried around, set on a large table and studied, etc than a globe. It is because we use 2D medium that we cant think effectively in 3D is my take on it. Also is Mercator around at all? Even my kid atlas had the sinusoidal projection (which Wikipedia tells me is the same as Mercator equal area, also apparently Mercator himself used this one and not the crappy “Greenland is bigger than Africa” one).

]]> By: Venkat http://www.ribbonfarm.com/2007/07/17/visualizing-the-2d-world-with-cartograms/#comment-253 Venkat Thu, 19 Jul 2007 21:55:52 +0000 http://www.ribbonfarm.com/2007/07/17/visualizing-the-2d-world-with-cartograms/#comment-253 Hmm... not a bad start. Am having trouble visualizing this though. Reminds me of the Beltrami projection to visualize hyperbolic space, which I'll write about shortly when I launch my series on Roger Penrose's "Road to Reality." I think it would be simpler to work with discrete graphs, that's why I suggested cities represented as points. I'd start with imagining pins poked into a rubber ball and exerting forces only at the pins. There is that whole class of methods from visualizing abstract graphs too, mostly using some sort of rubber-band tension among the nodes. The trick to porting that to a sphere is how to deform the non pin parts. Hmm… not a bad start. Am having trouble visualizing this though. Reminds me of the Beltrami projection to visualize hyperbolic space, which I’ll write about shortly when I launch my series on Roger Penrose’s “Road to Reality.”

I think it would be simpler to work with discrete graphs, that’s why I suggested cities represented as points. I’d start with imagining pins poked into a rubber ball and exerting forces only at the pins.

There is that whole class of methods from visualizing abstract graphs too, mostly using some sort of rubber-band tension among the nodes. The trick to porting that to a sphere is how to deform the non pin parts.

]]> By: kapsio http://www.ribbonfarm.com/2007/07/17/visualizing-the-2d-world-with-cartograms/#comment-247 kapsio Wed, 18 Jul 2007 14:06:40 +0000 http://www.ribbonfarm.com/2007/07/17/visualizing-the-2d-world-with-cartograms/#comment-247 Here is one trivial solution: An image which updates itself based on where your mouse pointer is on it. The mouse pointer would denote one of the two points, and the "bloatedness" of each area on the rest of the map would be proportional to the "strength of its connection" to the first point. So the map would keep distorting with various sections bloating and deflating as you move the mouse pointer (assuming of course the variations are kind of continuous and not discrete). It would be like watching the map under water with waves that distort your view of it, as you move the mouse pointer. I call this solution trivial because it is not a static image representation of the data, but it still might be a helpful tool to visualize the data. It is just an attempt to reduce the (point on 2D surface) mapped to (point on 2D surface) to the original problem. Here is one trivial solution:
An image which updates itself based on where your mouse pointer is on it. The mouse pointer would denote one of the two points, and the “bloatedness” of each area on the rest of the map would be proportional to the “strength of its connection” to the first point. So the map would keep distorting with various sections bloating and deflating as you move the mouse pointer (assuming of course the variations are kind of continuous and not discrete). It would be like watching the map under water with waves that distort your view of it, as you move the mouse pointer.

I call this solution trivial because it is not a static image representation of the data, but it still might be a helpful tool to visualize the data. It is just an attempt to reduce the (point on 2D surface) mapped to (point on 2D surface) to the original problem.

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