A map chart is a visual representation of data that uses colors or shading to indicate different levels or values of a variable across geographical regions. The regions can be countries, states, counties, or other geographic units.
Map charts help visualize geographically based data, such as population density, election results, or economic indicators.
Map charts can be used with continuous and categorical data:
- Animated map displays a flow of categorical data
- Comparison map chart with continuous data
- Distribution map chart using continuous data
- Composition map chart using categorical data
- Relationship map chart using categorical data
Remark
If you are not familiar with data types, feel free to check out the Continuous Data Type 101 and Categorical Data Type 101.
One advantage of map charts is that they can visually represent data that may be difficult to understand from a table or other forms of data presentation. Map charts are a great choice to tell a story or convey a message, such as the impact of a natural disaster on a particular region.
When to use a map chart
Animated chart
The demo below visualizes the early journey of the coffee bean using animation.
Comparison map chart
The map displays all US mainland (and surrounding borders) earthquakes with a magnitude of 4.5 and above from 2000 to 2019.
Distribution map chart
The demo below visualizes the distribution of the US counties’ unemployment rates in January 2018.
Composition map chart
The demo below visualizes the composition of the Provinces of China:
Relationship map chart
The demo below illustrates the relationship between South Korean domestic flights between airports on a map. The demo uses simple links with colors to visualize links between airports:
A map chart is useful for presenting and analyzing geographically based data clearly and concisely. It is particularly effective when you want to compare data across regions or when you want to highlight the differences between regions.
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