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Worldmapper

Worldmapper is website containing a collection of world maps, where territories are re-sized on each map according to the subject of interest. The maps presented on this website are equal area cartograms, which re-size each territory according to the variable being mapped. The project is a collaboration between faculty at the University of Sheffield and the University of Michigan.

Objectives of Site

The site aims to provide to the public a unique geographic view of the world for a wide range of data variables. Maps are categorized according to the type of data being mapped. Subjects include, but are not limited to: food, income, wealth, poverty, health, diseases and communication. Each map is described and briefly summarized with adjacent text. There is also very good documentation about the data, definitions, and the process used to create the maps.

Every map is of a different variable, and the sizes of each territory are in proportion to the value of that particular variable. Since cartograms distort boundaries based on the value being mapped, it is often difficult to identify a given country or region. The authors have taken note of this problem and on each map page they provide a link to a color coded and labeled territory map. This territory map assists in identifying the regions and countries in the cartogram maps.

Data and Maps

Maps

The cartogram maps are downloadable as PDF files for printing as well as high resolution PNG image files. The downloadable PDF maps also contain: a table with the top and bottom ranked territories, a bar graph with absolute or relative value of the variable being mapped for each of the twelve regions; and, textual descriptions of the map. Extensive documentation and technical notes on how the maps were created are also provided. At the time of this review (3/8/07) there were 309 maps available for download from the website.

Cartogram of Life Expectancy (2002)

Data

The data used for each map is made available for download as a an Excel spreadsheet or Opendoc format . The source of data used for the Cartograms are from a variety of source, including the World Bank. UN Environmental Programme (UNEP, UN Development Program (UNDP), Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), World Health Organization (WHO) and others.

Innovations and Special Features

The site is unique in that it provides free access to a wide range (and growing) of global cartogram maps on a variety of subjects. These maps provide unique visual insight into the geographic variability of a variety of global datasets. Although cartograms inherently distort territorial boundaries, the authors utilize a recently developed method (Gastner and Newman 2004) that’s preserve the shapes of individual territories and keeps them adjacent to adjacent territories and seas. The code used to cerate the cartograms is also made available for download.

Reference
Michael T. Gastner and M. E. J. Newman (2004) Diffusion-based method for producing density equalizing maps Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 101, 7499-7504.

Summary by Brian Fulfrost