December 25, 2011, 8:58 pm
World Map Abstracted
By Henry Woodbury
Based on data gathered from Gallup’s World Poll survey the Charities Aid Foundation creates a World Giving Index. The map below shows countries weighted by rank:
What I find most interesting about this map is the level of abstraction. While the ordered circles offer the same data relationship of area to value as a system like Worldmapper (though the “area” of CAF’s unitless “giving index” is somewhat mysterious), the presentation is simpler and far more flexible.
It is surprising how well the placement of a circle in rough proximity to its neighbors succeeds in providing orientation. Without the need to show contiguous borders, regions can be easily isolated, or even repositioned. It’s an elegant system, within its own parameters.
