Good Map / Bad Map

Good Map!

http://videoonly.com/assets/wavo.pdf

This is perhaps an interesting choice for my first “well-designed” map. This is from a “weekly specials” flyer for an electronics store called Video Only (VO) which has stores around the Seattle area (Bellevue and South Center are near Seattle).  These maps are trying to do one thing and one thing only – help you get to the local store – and as such score high in Tufteian values of clarity and efficiency.  They “know” you know the local area and are simply communicating major cross streets in relation to the major highways around Seattle (520, 405, and I-5).  They also include just a couple clearly-labeled local landmarks, showing the stores’ relationships to these larger landmarks (Sears, Ross, Southcenter Mall) in ways that help orient the user.  The maps are not particularly concerned with scale, but emphasize the routes the user will need and minimize visual clutter.  As a local, I could easily find either of these stores. 

Bad Map!

http://mapbox.com/blog/election-mapping-usatoday/

Those of us in the USA are all painfully familiar with maps like this election day map from USA Today.  I think we could agree that it is a technically beautiful map (many cases of graphical excellence with regard to layout, muted colors for areas out of the main focus, white borders between states and counties, clear labeling unless you live in Sioux City, etc.). However, I’m presenting this as a poorly-designed map for failing to deliver the right impression. If one was to take a quick look at the map, who won Iowa?  Clearly red is dominant in the image, so Mitt Romney must have won.  There is no “scale” to indicate that the population of some counties is extremely low and others high, just a binary red/blue indication. The map relies on the bar scale below the map and a green check-box to confirm that the state went to President Obama.  Without this “addendum” I think this map doesn’t "tell the truth about the data" (Krygier & Wood, 2005).

Reference:
Krygier, J., & Wood, D. (2005). Making maps: A visual guide to map design for GIS. New York: Guilford Press.