Dot maps

1 Dot = 1,000
Population

© Donald Boyes, Department of Geography and Planning, University of Toronto 1

 Pop./sq.km
66.41 ‐ 2928
2929 ‐ 4552
4553 ‐ 6531
6532 ‐ 9183
9184 ‐ 64660
Unpopulated

Choropleth

© Donald Boyes, Department of Geography and Planning, University of Toronto 2

Density is not calculated,
but shown visually

1 Dot = 1,000
Population

Dot density map

© Donald Boyes, Department of Geography and Planning, University of Toronto 3

Dots randomly placed all
over Toronto

1 Dot = 1,000
Population

Dot density map

© Donald Boyes, Department of Geography and Planning, University of Toronto 4

Dots randomly placed inside
census tracts

1 Dot = 1,000
Population

Dot density map

© Donald Boyes, Department of Geography and Planning, University of Toronto 5

Dots randomly placed inside
dissemination areas

1 Dot = 1,000
Population

Dissemination areas

© Donald Boyes, Department of Geography and Planning, University of Toronto 6

Census tracts Dissemination areas

Comparison

© Donald Boyes, Department of Geography and Planning, University of Toronto 7

Choropleth Dot density

Comparison

© Donald Boyes, Department of Geography and Planning, University of Toronto 8

Dot size

Dot value

Dot density settings

© Donald Boyes, Department of Geography and Planning, University of Toronto 9

 1 Dot = 10,000
Population

Dot value too high

© Donald Boyes, Department of Geography and Planning, University of Toronto 10

 1 Dot = 1,000
Population

Dot size too small

© Donald Boyes, Department of Geography and Planning, University of Toronto 11

 1 Dot = 1,000
Population

Dot size too large

© Donald Boyes, Department of Geography and Planning, University of Toronto 12

 1 Dot = 1,000
Population

Just right!

© Donald Boyes, Department of Geography and Planning, University of Toronto 13

Not like this Like this

(adapted from Slocum et al., 2009)

Dot coalescence

© Donald Boyes, Department of Geography and Planning, University of Toronto 14

Proportional symbol maps

© Donald Boyes, Department of Geography and Planning, University of Toronto 15

 Cities

© Donald Boyes, Department of Geography and Planning, University of Toronto 16

 Examples,
not classes

Population
10,000
100,000

1,000,000

Proportional symbols

© Donald Boyes, Department of Geography and Planning, University of Toronto 17

 Population
10,000
100,000

1,000,000

Proportional symbols

© Donald Boyes, Department of Geography and Planning, University of Toronto 18

 Length 100

Area 300
Response

1200

600

Stimulus Absolute scaling

Perceptual scaling
(adapted from Dent et al., 2009)

Appearance compensation

© Donald Boyes, Department of Geography and Planning, University of Toronto 19

 Perceptual
Absolute
scaling

Population
10,000
Population
100,000
10,000
100,000

1,000,000
1,000,000

Perceptual scaling

© Donald Boyes, Department of Geography and Planning, University of Toronto 20

Absolute scaling Perceptual scaling
(Flannery)

Comparison

© Donald Boyes, Department of Geography and Planning, University of Toronto 21

 Same size!

Ebbinghaus illusion

(adapted from Dent et al., 2009)

Which red circle is larger?

© Donald Boyes, Department of Geography and Planning, University of Toronto 22

 (adapted from Dent et al., 2009)

Neighbouring circles and perception

© Donald Boyes, Department of Geography and Planning, University of Toronto 23

Graduated symbol maps

© Donald Boyes, Department of Geography and Planning, University of Toronto 24

 Classes,
not examples

Population
7617 ‐ 100000
100001 ‐ 200000

200001 ‐ 2615060

Graduated symbols

© Donald Boyes, Department of Geography and Planning, University of Toronto 25

Proportional Graduated

Comparison

© Donald Boyes, Department of Geography and Planning, University of Toronto 26

When symbols go bad…

© Donald Boyes, Department of Geography and Planning, University of Toronto 27

 Flights per year
q
®
10,000
q
® 100,000

q
® 1,000,000

Symbol shape

© Donald Boyes, Department of Geography and Planning, University of Toronto 28

 Marble Sales
10,000
100,000

1,000,000

Symbol shape

© Donald Boyes, Department of Geography and Planning, University of Toronto 29

Potential problems with proportional symbol

 Too many values: hard to tell them apart

 High values: so large they obscure each other
 Unvarying data: Looks monotonous.

(Slocum et al., 2009)

© Donald Boyes, Department of Geography and Planning, University of Toronto 30

Contour maps

© Donald Boyes, Department of Geography and Planning, University of Toronto 31

 200
100 m
ft interval

Contours

© Donald Boyes, Department of Geography and Planning, University of Toronto 32

 100 m
200 ft interval

Elevation (m asl)
High : 2866

Low : 0

DEM vs. Contours

© Donald Boyes, Department of Geography and Planning, University of Toronto 33

Creating an Isarithmic Map

© Donald Boyes, Department of Geography and Planning, University of Toronto 34

 200
100 m
ft interval

DEM vs. Contours

© Donald Boyes, Department of Geography and Planning, University of Toronto 35

 Line weight

© Donald Boyes, Department of Geography and Planning, University of Toronto 36

 Isolines

Contour map

© Donald Boyes, Department of Geography and Planning, University of Toronto 37

Different intervals

© Donald Boyes, Department of Geography and Planning, University of Toronto 38

Flow maps

© Donald Boyes, Department of Geography and Planning, University of Toronto 39

 Shows linear movement between locations
 Width of line is proportional to quantity
 Usually try to show route taken.
(Slocum et al., 2009)

Flow map

© Donald Boyes, Department of Geography and Planning, University of Toronto 40

Flow direction may or
may not be indicated

(Slocum et al., 2009)

Direction

© Donald Boyes, Department of Geography and Planning, University of Toronto 41

Generalized flow map (Slocum et al., 2009)

© Donald Boyes, Department of Geography and Planning, University of Toronto 42

 (Slocum et al., 2009)

Poor flow map design

© Donald Boyes, Department of Geography and Planning, University of Toronto 43

 (Slocum et al., 2009)

Flow map legends

© Donald Boyes, Department of Geography and Planning, University of Toronto 44

http://www.flickr.com/photos/walkingsf/sets/72157629014750905/detail/

© Donald Boyes, Department of Geography and Planning, University of Toronto 45

 http://earth.nullschool.net/#current/wind/isobaric/250hPa/

Earth: visualization of weather conditions

© Donald Boyes, Department of Geography and Planning, University of Toronto 46

 http://www.lucify.com/the‐flow‐towards‐europe/

Flow of refugees to Europe

© Donald Boyes, Department of Geography and Planning, University of Toronto 47

Multivariate maps

© Donald Boyes, Department of Geography and Planning, University of Toronto 48

 NO2 Stack Emissions
(Tonnes)
0 ‐ 49
50 ‐ 99

100 ‐ 149

150 ‐ 199

200 ‐ 220

Population Density
(pop./sq. km)
66 ‐ 2933
2934 ‐ 4637
4638 ‐ 6530
6531 ‐ 9258

Multivariate map
9259 ‐ 63765

© Donald Boyes, Department of Geography and Planning, University of Toronto 49

NO2 Stack Emissions
(Tonnes)
0 ‐ 49
50 ‐ 99

100 ‐ 149

150 ‐ 199

200 ‐ 220

Population Density
(pop./sq. km)
66 ‐ 2933
2934 ‐ 4637
4638 ‐ 6530
6531 ‐ 9258

Multivariate map
9259 ‐ 63765

© Donald Boyes, Department of Geography and Planning, University of Toronto 50