U12.02

Area bias in choropleth maps

Cards in this group · 5

  1. U12.02.1A choropleth draws the eye to whichever region is biggest on the map, regardless of its value
  2. U12.02.2Coloring a map by raw count mostly draws a population map, not the pattern it claims to show
  3. U12.02.3Slicing the same values by equal interval, quantile, or natural breaks produces three different-looking maps
  4. U12.02.4Three color classes show only the roughest pattern; seven start revealing the finer structure
  5. U12.02.5Resizing regions by their data value fixes a choropleth's area bias but makes the map hard to recognize