Data link roundup (week of July 19, 2013)

The week's top data analysis links...
This week's theme: Maps! Cartography! GIS!


HOW NOT TO MAP YOUR DATA

While generally one of my favorite daily reads, The Atlantic WIRE gets their map analysis of murders in America all wrong.

Source: The Atlantic WIRE

The problem?

TAW maps total number of murders, but does not control for population size, and then highlights that California and Florida are always at the top of the list.

News flash to the murder map analysts: Those are two of the nation's most populous states!

Is it any wonder that California is always highest, followed by Texas, Florida, and New York? At this stage in the cartography game, we shouldn't have to say this, but when comparing trends by state:

Map per capita, people!
Per capita!


HOW DIVERSE IS YOUR CITY?

Starting with the 2000 Census, Eric Fischer developed a series of dot-density maps to display racial distribution patterns within U.S. metropolitan areas. Fisher updated the demographic dot map series for the 2010 Census.

Source: Eric Fischer

AFFORDABILITY: HOUSING AND TRANSPORTATION

The two largest components of the average American household budget are: housing and transportation, but most analysis focuses on just the housing part of "affordability" when comparing U.S. metro areas. The H + T index combines both in a web-based mapping application.
(Thanks to MC for passing this link along!)


JUST FOR FUN

And a few maps just for fun...

• Do you call your footwear "sneakers" or "tennis shoes?" Map of regional dialect in the United States.
• In what language do you Tweet? (More Eric Fischer maps via Nathan Yau)
• Mapping the rise of craft beer in the United States.
• Where do you do your grocery shopping? (Maps of regional grocery store chain concentrations.)

BEST CHART VISUALIZATION TOOL OF THE WEEK

Special thanks to my friend RC for pointing me to the Urban Observatory, an online visualization tool that allows users to compare socio-economic and environmental characteristics quickly across major world cities. Take, for example, population density in New York, Tokyo, and Mumbai...

Source: Urban Observatory

IN CASE YOU MISSED IT...

Now that Google Reader is gone, if you're not following on Twitter, you should be. I post fact-checked links and interesting data insights (nearly) every day.