5 Maps

1) This is an interactive map I found linked from multiple stories. It's by Gallup.com and the graphic package is called "State of the States." There are three different interactive maps. The political map shows party affiliation, ideology, and approval of Obama. The second map is about business and shows economic confidence, job creation, employer hiring/firing, and standard of living satisfaction. The third map is on well-being and rates the states on overall well-being, life evaluation, emotional health, physical health, healthy behavior, work environment, and basic access. Each map is accompanied by a table and bar graph and when you click on a state from the map, the table will highlight that state to show it's specific numbers. I really like that this map is in depth and has a lot of information, but at the same time it is not boring and is organized well. Each graphic provides a different view of the information and together they enhance each other. I also liked that the interactive page did not take long to load. That was a problem I ran into with some of my other graphics. Since this is a map of the US, it easily illustrates location and gives enough context for the reader to understand all the data involved.

2) The Tennessean is my local paper at home and I usual am not very impressed by their website, but I found this package they put together about cancer and it has a really great interactive graphic to go along with it. The package begins with this quote to bring the reader in and explain why the graphic is important. "Tennesseans die of cancer at the fifth highest rate in the nation, mostly because of the way they live. Doctor's say quitting smoking and earlier detection would save lives." The map breaks down Tennessee into counties and when you scroll across the county it gives you numbers on how many people were diagnosed with cancer, how many died, and then a breakdown of lung, breast, colorectal, and prostate cancers. I really like that this map loads quick, is easy to use and doesn't give too much information at once. I really would have liked to see the economic breakdown of each county as well to see if wealth plays a role in deaths, especially when there is an extreme economic difference between some counties. The map shows accurate locations.

3) This was a Chicago Tribune fail. They have a whole section of their website devoted to Black History Month and there are a lot of really good articles and then there is this graphic, which brings the whole section down. They could have created a really interesting/interactive map, but instead they just created a google map with points of interest. The map is not interesting and the blurbs about each place look like something copy and pasted from wikipedia. The only reason this map would be helpful is if you were planning on taking a road trip to all these places because you can conveniently just plug in your address at the bottom and get directions! (note sarcasm). It is really sad that this is the best they could come up with. It does communicate location effectively though.

4) This is a map from the Columbia Missourian that shows higher education funding throughout the US. I really like that this map gives me two pieces of information without overwhelming me. The color shows the range of funding for each state and the lines show which states raised funding. I'm always interested in why some states give significantly more or less so I would have liked to see maybe the number of public higher ed. institutions in each state. The map definitely communicates the location effectively.

5) This is an interactive world map from the 2010 Vancouver Olympics website. The first thing I liked about this map was the scroll bar about the map that goes all the way back to the 1924 Winter Olympics and each year has its own map with the metal numbers from that year. When you scroll over the points on the map it gives you the number of medals that country won. The one negative thing about this map is that it requires the reader to install JavaFX and then it loads slow. I really don't like interactive graphics that aren't supported by all browsers and require an installation. Most readers by that time will have left the website because they don't want to download a new program and they don't want to take the time. I do think the map gives enough context and effectively communicates a location.