See our world in a different way.
When thinking about this world we live in, it is easy to get our perspective wrong. To get an accurate worldview, most of us need a little help. We need to have the world laid out in front of us as some sort of pictorial representation. Cartographers give us maps and globes. These come in a variety of projections and scales. Geographical and topographical maps show us the layout of the planet we live on. Political maps show us how we have organized socially. Thematic maps help us visualize specific information about the world. What follows are a number of interesting ways to visualize the world that you may not have come across.
First a bit of fun. Luis Felipe of Brazil has come up with this neat application using GOOGLE MAPS to answer the age old query, “Where would I end up if I dug a hole straight down through to the other side of the earth?” When I was a kid, I was always told “China”. Not so. Have a look at Luis’ website and play around with the DIG HERE function. Use the ZOOM function to see precisely where your hole ends up. Hours and hours of fun!
A cartogram is a map that displays numerical data while maintaining some degree of geographical accuracy. An equal area cartogram, otherwise known as a density-equalizing map, re-sizes each territory according to the variable being mapped. I have chosen the 10 cartograms that follow based on the unique way they illustrate data that should be important to each and every one of us. Click on the maps to open larger versions.
As a reference point, lets start off with a map where each territory's size on the map is drawn according to its land area. This looks like and indeed is a standard geographical map of the world.
Next, consider this map where the size of each territory shows the relative proportion of the world's population living there. Now things are getting interesting. Look at what’s happened to India and China. This map illustrates the usefulness of equal area cartograms in helping us visualize large data sets.
Next, lets look at some historical data illustrating human population migration as well as the increase in total world population. This first map shows the distribution of the world population in 1AD. An estimated 231 million humans populated the earth 2000 years ago and while Southern Asia, Northern Africa, China and Southern Europe were relatively heavily populated, the Americas were sparsely populated and exclusively by indigenous peoples. The estimated population of New Zealand was zero.
The next map shows the distribution of the world's population in year 1500. Eight years after Columbus’ “discovery”, the population of Mexico and Peru was already greater than that of all other American countries combined. The world population had doubled since 1AD.
This next map shows the predicted distribution for the estimated world population in 2050. The population is estimated to have grown to 9.07 billion with 62% of the people living in Africa, Southern Asia and Eastern Asia.
Back to the present. In this next map, territory size shows the proportion of all cars in the world that are found there. Of the 590 million cars in the world (2002 statistics), 140 million were in the United States. New Zealand has the most cars per capita (62.3/100 people) whereas Tajikistan has the fewest (0.04/100 people).
Whereas cars are common in developed nations, mopeds are the main form of motorized transportation in developing nations. In this map, territory size shows the proportion of the motorbikes and mopeds in the world found there.
In the next map, territory size shows the proportion of worldwide child work force (aged 10-14) that live there. This is a sad map indeed. Nine of the ten territories with the highest proportions of child laborers are in Africa. India has the highest number of child laborers.
In this map, territory size shows the proportion of the world population living in poverty living there (calculated by multiplying population by one of two poverty indices).
Finally, in this last map, territory size shows the proportion of all people aged 15-49 with HIV (Human Immunodeficiency Virus) worldwide, living there. In 2003, the highest HIV prevalence was
Swaziland, where 38%, or almost 4 in every 10 people aged 15 to 49 years, were HIV positive. All ten territories with the highest prevalence of HIV are in Central and Southeastern Africa. This is a staggering burden on this great continent and one wonders how it will ever be overcome.
I hope you agree with me that these cartograms give us a different and often surprising view of our world. All the maps I have displayed are taken from WORLDMAPPER, a website produced by the Social and Spatial Inequalities research group at the University of Sheffield in collaboration with the Center for the Study of Complex Systems at the University of Michigan. The site has more than 200 cartograms organized into 27 different categories, a veritable treasure trove of fascinating ways to look at the world we live in.
Joseph Froncioni
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