Cartographic Representation: Examples from the 2008 Election

Anthony C. RobinsonGeoVISTA Center / John A. Dutton e-Education Institute

The Pennsylvania State University

How many ways can you map an election?

Electoral Vote Winners, 2008

Population Cartogram – Areas Resized by Population

Electoral Vote Cartogram – Areas Resized By # of Electoral Votes

County Choropleth – Winners (2 Classes)

Choropleth = Color-Filled Areas

County Cartogram – Winners, Areas Resized by Population

County Choropleth – Percentages of Votes

Unclassed Choropleth = Uses Continuous Color Ramp, Not Set # of Color Classes

County Cartogram – Percentages of Votes

Do maps always tell the truth?

Red / Blue Dichotomy In Use, 2000

Red / Blue (?) Dichotomy In Use, 2000

Red / Blue, Extending Beyond Our Borders

Shifts in Voting, Original – NY Times

Shifts in Voting, Manipulated Color Saturation – Huffington Post

Saturation = Intensity of Color

“The Past Isn’t Dead”, Allen Gathman, SE Missouri State University

10 States of American Politics, beyondredandblue.org

The View from 10.2006, surveyusa.com

Polling Place Equipment, Verified Voting Foundation

Color Connotation = The Cultural Meaning of a Color

Reported Voting Problems, ourvotelive.org

Choropleth Maps = Not Useful to Map Totals, Should Map Rates Instead

Obamaland and McCainland, kottke.org

What other ways can we look at this?

3D Perspective, Washington Post

Voters per Electoral Vote, NY Times

Reaction to “The Fish”, Seneca Doane from DailyKos

Voting and Population Density, from AxisMaps

Words in Campaign Speeches, from AxisMaps

Google Earth Mashup, Kenton Ngo of DailyKos

Map Mashup = Custom Map Created by Mixing Data From Multiple Web Sources

Election maps = entertaining?

Informal Real-Time Mapping, from a BeenUp2 Post

Poking Fun, The Crikey Electoral College-O-Meter

The Election Represented by The Onion

What does the rest of the world think?

Le Monde, France

Global Electoral College, The Economist

What these maps have in common…

Every design has its purpose (often more than one)

Many are designed by people who have no cartographic training

The point of view of election maps is often highly opinionated

All of them are worth thinking about!

Some closing thoughts…

There is no “best” way to design a map

Every map simplifies reality to communicate an idea

Most people see maps as facts

Take it upon yourself to make responsible maps

Thank you…