Our world is rich with geographic data. From point coordinates to country names, maps are key to understanding and utilizing that information. These days, with just a computer and an internet connection, anyone can be empowered to explore and present their geographic data. Unfortunately, there’s no guarantee that ‘anyone’ understands the principles of spatial data, or visual and cartographic best practices.
While many map authoring tools do provide design guidance, it’s still easy to mislead readers. Based on the choices a cartographer makes in data collection, cleaning, analysis, and visualization – their ‘cartographic license’ – a map’s unique capacity for geographic data insights can be severely compromised, intentionally or otherwise.
In this Data Science Central webinar, Sarah will discuss how cartographic license can be used – and abused – by the map designer, and how this ultimately impacts a map reader’s ability to see and understand geographic data.
Speaker: Sarah Battersby, Research Scientist — Tableau
Hosted by: Bill Vorhies, Editorial Director — Data Science Central
