{"id":1813401,"date":"2023-03-23T18:59:02","date_gmt":"2023-03-23T22:59:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/?p=1813401"},"modified":"2023-03-23T18:59:02","modified_gmt":"2023-03-23T22:59:02","slug":"confused-by-cartographic-conventions","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/2023\/03\/confused-by-cartographic-conventions\/","title":{"rendered":"Confused by Cartographic Conventions"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><a href=\"https:\/\/somethingaboutmaps.wordpress.com\/2023\/03\/09\/conventional-cartographic-wisdom-that-i-have-failed-to-grasp\/\">Daniel Huffman writes<\/a> that \u201cthere are certain cartographic conventions out there for which I don\u2019t understand the logic.\u201d (Such as that thematic or choropleth maps should be on equal-area projections.) \u201cI do not suggest that these conventions are <em>wrong<\/em>; only that I lack a clear, intuitive rationale for following them, and so haven\u2019t always incorporated them into my own practice. Maybe you can help explain them, or maybe you\u2019re confused, too.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Daniel Huffman writes that \u201cthere are certain cartographic conventions out there for which I don\u2019t understand the logic.\u201d (Such as that thematic or choropleth maps should be on equal-area projections.) \u201cI do not suggest that&hellip; <a href=\"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/2023\/03\/confused-by-cartographic-conventions\/\">More<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"link","meta":{"autoblue_enabled":true,"autoblue_custom_message":"","autoblue_shares":[],"autoblue_post_url":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[29],"tags":[433],"class_list":["post-1813401","post","type-post","status-publish","format-link","hentry","category-cartography","tag-choropleth","post_format-post-format-link"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":1842974,"url":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/2025\/06\/designing-thematic-world-maps-for-smartphones\/","url_meta":{"origin":1813401,"position":0},"title":"Designing Thematic World Maps for Smartphones","author":"Jonathan Crowe","date":"23 June 2025","format":"link","excerpt":"Jonas Oesch World maps tend to be wide (horizontal, landscape), whereas mobile phone screens tend to be tall (vertical, portrait). This makes world maps small and hard to see on phones: a problem when you\u2019re trying to present data via a thematic world map (e.g. a choropleth map) on a\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Cartography&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Cartography","link":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/category\/cartography\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.maproomblog.com\/xq\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/nzz-thematic-maps.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.maproomblog.com\/xq\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/nzz-thematic-maps.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.maproomblog.com\/xq\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/nzz-thematic-maps.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.maproomblog.com\/xq\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/nzz-thematic-maps.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.maproomblog.com\/xq\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/nzz-thematic-maps.jpg?resize=1050%2C600&ssl=1 3x"},"classes":[]},{"id":1785405,"url":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/2018\/04\/advice-on-choropleth-maps\/","url_meta":{"origin":1813401,"position":1},"title":"Advice on Choropleth Maps","author":"Jonathan Crowe","date":"18 April 2018","format":"link","excerpt":"Last month Lisa Charlotte Rost published a post on Datawrapper's blog full of tips about choropleth maps: when to use them (and when not to), how to make them better (lots about colour use), along with some examples of good ones. Worth bookmarking. She followed that up with another post\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Cartography&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Cartography","link":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/category\/cartography\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.maproomblog.com\/xq\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/04\/rost-choropleth1-300x143.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.maproomblog.com\/xq\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/04\/rost-choropleth1-300x143.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.maproomblog.com\/xq\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/04\/rost-choropleth1-300x143.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.maproomblog.com\/xq\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/04\/rost-choropleth1-300x143.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":1812660,"url":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/2023\/02\/in-praise-of-dot-grid-maps\/","url_meta":{"origin":1813401,"position":2},"title":"In Praise of Dot Grid Maps","author":"Jonathan Crowe","date":"15 February 2023","format":"link","excerpt":"Mikel Maron is a fan of dot grid maps: Dot grids are a clear, informative, multidimensional and flexible cartographic technique. They effectively leverage patterns of human perception to present information dense but readily comprehensible maps. Compared to choropleth maps, dots retain the base map context, and invite us to fill\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Cartography&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Cartography","link":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/category\/cartography\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Screenshot","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.maproomblog.com\/xq\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/02\/mikel-dotgrid-fews-1024x595.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.maproomblog.com\/xq\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/02\/mikel-dotgrid-fews-1024x595.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.maproomblog.com\/xq\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/02\/mikel-dotgrid-fews-1024x595.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.maproomblog.com\/xq\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/02\/mikel-dotgrid-fews-1024x595.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":1786994,"url":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/2019\/01\/16th-century-hand-drawn-maps-imitate-the-style-of-printed-maps\/","url_meta":{"origin":1813401,"position":3},"title":"16th-Century Hand-Drawn Maps Imitate the Style of Printed Maps","author":"Jonathan Crowe","date":"15 January 2019","format":"link","excerpt":"Seven maps from late 16th-century Mexico are the focus of a 2018 study by University of Seville researcher Manuel Morato-Moreno (Cartographica article, press release). Part of a series of maps sent back to Spain by local administrators, the maps are hand-drawn, but imitate the style of printed maps: the hatching\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Antique Maps&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Antique Maps","link":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/category\/antique-maps\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.maproomblog.com\/xq\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/hand-drawn-temascaltepec-150x109.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.maproomblog.com\/xq\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/hand-drawn-temascaltepec-150x109.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.maproomblog.com\/xq\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/hand-drawn-temascaltepec-150x109.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.maproomblog.com\/xq\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/hand-drawn-temascaltepec-150x109.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.maproomblog.com\/xq\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/hand-drawn-temascaltepec-150x109.jpg?resize=1050%2C600&ssl=1 3x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.maproomblog.com\/xq\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/hand-drawn-temascaltepec-150x109.jpg?resize=1400%2C800&ssl=1 4x"},"classes":[]},{"id":1834161,"url":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/2024\/09\/review-atlas-of-iowa\/","url_meta":{"origin":1813401,"position":4},"title":"Review: Atlas of Iowa","author":"Jonathan Crowe","date":"20 September 2024","format":false,"excerpt":"Most of the maps in the Atlas of Iowa, which came out last month from University of Iowa Press, are thematic maps: mainly graduated symbol maps and (to a lesser extent) choropleth maps, that show data at the county or (to a lesser extent) census district or precinct level. These\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Book Reviews&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Book Reviews","link":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/category\/book-reviews\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.maproomblog.com\/xq\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/09\/atlas-of-iowa-rgb-full.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.maproomblog.com\/xq\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/09\/atlas-of-iowa-rgb-full.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.maproomblog.com\/xq\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/09\/atlas-of-iowa-rgb-full.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.maproomblog.com\/xq\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/09\/atlas-of-iowa-rgb-full.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.maproomblog.com\/xq\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/09\/atlas-of-iowa-rgb-full.jpg?resize=1050%2C600&ssl=1 3x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.maproomblog.com\/xq\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/09\/atlas-of-iowa-rgb-full.jpg?resize=1400%2C800&ssl=1 4x"},"classes":[]},{"id":1530,"url":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/2016\/04\/data-visualizations-dirty-little-secret-and-choropleth-maps\/","url_meta":{"origin":1813401,"position":5},"title":"Data Visualization&#8217;s &#8216;Dirty Little Secret&#8217; and Choropleth Maps","author":"Jonathan Crowe","date":"13 April 2016","format":"link","excerpt":"The Washington Post\u2019s\u00a0Christopher Ingraham compares two choropleth maps of U.S. population growth: while they look rather different, they use the same data.\u00a0\"The difference between\u00a0my map and Pew's\u2014again, they both use the exact same data set\u2014underscores a bit of a dirty little secret in data journalism: Visualizing data is as much\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Cartography&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Cartography","link":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/category\/cartography\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1813401","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1813401"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1813401\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1813402,"href":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1813401\/revisions\/1813402"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1813401"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1813401"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1813401"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}