Looking at the world through new eyes

Neat maps showing the world as Cartograms for various categories. [Link]

Introduction

This website contains 366 maps, with associated information and PDF 'poster' file. Each map relates to a particular subject. Click on the 'Thumbnail Index' which gives thumbnail previews of the maps, 'Map Categories' which is classified to see the choice, or a new option 'A-Z Map Index', and view a map and associated information. There is also a Site Map and Help page.

Coverage
The maps and data files cover 200 territories, mainly United Nation Member States plus a few others to include at least 99.95% of the world's population. For a map identifying them see the labelled territory map, and for a cartogram giving them all equal prominence see Appendix A (Areas Included). Further details about their names are given in Technical Notes for Land Area. Also shown on the maps are 62 other areas, mostly small islands, which do not have unique data but are assigned to and included in the data of the 200. For details see Appendix B (Islands Assigned to Territories).

Cartograms
The maps presented on this website are equal area cartograms, otherwise known as density-equalising maps. The cartogram re-sizes each territory according to the variable being mapped. The particular method used is one described by Michael Gastner and Mark Newman (see below for link). For further information, see About the Maps. To get a higher resolution map, click on the map image.

Michael T. Gastner and M. E. J. Newman (2004) Diffusion-based method for producing density equalizing maps Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 101, 7499-7504.