Thanks for this great article about dataviz and mapping. My works focus on mapping and dataviz at the North American level so your article is right up my alley!
About the projections:
- I would indicate to never use the Mercator projection. Although it is everywhere and many online tools only use this one (mostly because of its historical predominance), it is the worse projection someone can use in the 21st century. It distorts the world (as you pointed out with Greenland who in reality is supposed to fit 14 times in Africa and not be bigger) and many would say that it has a very colonialist point of view (as it makes the Northern Hemisphere appear much bigger than the Southern Hemisphere). If someone can choose a projection, I would choose anything but Mercator.
About Choropleth:
- I would recommend to stay away from Choropleth as they create a lot of "perception distortion" by highlighting bigger areas even though the value that is represented by the color is rarely based on surface area. Big states in the United States like Texas or big provinces in Canada like Quebec will always stand out more in a Choropleth even though the represented data might not even be about the surface area of these regions. The Hex Grid you mentioned is much better to reduce this "perceptive distortion".
Hi Jon.
Thanks for this great article about dataviz and mapping. My works focus on mapping and dataviz at the North American level so your article is right up my alley!
About the projections:
- I would indicate to never use the Mercator projection. Although it is everywhere and many online tools only use this one (mostly because of its historical predominance), it is the worse projection someone can use in the 21st century. It distorts the world (as you pointed out with Greenland who in reality is supposed to fit 14 times in Africa and not be bigger) and many would say that it has a very colonialist point of view (as it makes the Northern Hemisphere appear much bigger than the Southern Hemisphere). If someone can choose a projection, I would choose anything but Mercator.
About Choropleth:
- I would recommend to stay away from Choropleth as they create a lot of "perception distortion" by highlighting bigger areas even though the value that is represented by the color is rarely based on surface area. Big states in the United States like Texas or big provinces in Canada like Quebec will always stand out more in a Choropleth even though the represented data might not even be about the surface area of these regions. The Hex Grid you mentioned is much better to reduce this "perceptive distortion".
Cheers!
Dominique