Evaluating Cartogram Effectiveness

Cartograms are maps in which areas of geographic regions (countries, states) appear in proportion to some variable of interest (population, income). Cartograms are popular visualizations for geo-referenced data that have been used for over a century and that make it possible to gain insight into patterns and trends in the world around us. Despite the popularity of cartograms and the large number of cartogram types, there are few studies evaluating the effectiveness of cartograms in conveying information. Based on a recent task taxonomy for cartograms, we evaluate four major different types of cartograms: contiguous, non-contiguous, rectangular, and Dorling cartograms. Specifically, we evaluate the effectiveness of these cartograms by quantitative performance analysis, as well as by subjective preferences. We analyze the results of our study in the context of some prevailing assumptions in the literature of cartography and cognitive science. Finally, we make recommendations for the use of different types of cartograms for different tasks and settings

The State of the Art in Cartograms

Cartograms combine statistical and geographical information in thematic maps, where areas of geographical regions (e.g., countries, states) are scaled in proportion to some statistic (e.g., population, income). Cartograms make it possible to gain insight into patterns and trends in the world around us and have been very popular visualizations for geo-referenced data for over a century. This work surveys cartogram research in visualization, cartography and geometry, covering a broad spectrum of different cartogram types: from the traditional rectangular and table cartograms, to Dorling and diffusion cartograms. A particular focus is the study of the major cartogram dimensions: statistical accuracy, geographical accuracy, and topological accuracy. We review the history of cartograms, describe the algorithms for generating them, and consider task taxonomies. We also review quantitative and qualitative evaluations, and we use these to arrive at design guidelines and research challenges

Exploring Uncertainty in Geodemographics with Interactive Graphics

Geodemographic classifiers characterise populations by categorising geographical areas according to the demographic and lifestyle characteristics of those who live within them. The dimension-reducing quality of such classifiers provides a simple and effective means of characterising population through a manageable set of categories, but inevitably hides heterogeneity, which varies within and between the demographic categories and geographical areas, sometimes systematically. This may have implications for their use, which is widespread in government and commerce for planning, marketing and related activities. We use novel interactive graphics to delve into OAC – a free and open geodemographic classifier that classifies the UK population in over 200,000 small geographical areas into 7 super-groups, 21 groups and 52 sub-groups. Our graphics provide access to the original 41 demographic variables used in the classification and the uncertainty associated with the classification of each geographical area on-demand. It also supports comparison geographically and by category. This serves the dual purpose of helping understand the classifier itself leading to its more informed use and providing a more comprehensive view of population in a comprehensible manner. We assess the impact of these interactive graphics on experienced OAC users who explored the details of the classification, its uncertainty and the nature of between – and within – class variation and then reflect on their experiences. Visualization of the complexities and subtleties of the classification proved to be a thought-provoking exercise both confirming and challenging users’ understanding of population, the OAC classifier and the way it is used in their organisations. Users identified three contexts for which the techniques were deemed useful in the context of local government, confirming the validity of the proposed methods

Between Replication and Docking: "Adaptive Agents, Political Institutions, and Civic Traditions" Revisited

This article has two primary objectives: (i) to replicate an agent-based model of social interaction by Bhavnani (2003), in which the author explicitly specifies mechanisms underpinning Robert Putnam\'s (1993) work on Civic Traditions in Modern Italy, bridging the gap between the study\'s historical starting point—political regimes that characterized 14th Century Italy—and contemporary levels of social capital—reflected in a \'civic\' North and an \'un-civic\' South; and (ii) to extend the original analysis, using a landscape of Italy that accounts for population density. The replication exercise is performed by different authors using an entirely distinct ABM toolkit (PS-I) with its own rule set governing agent-interaction and cultural change. The extension, which more closely approximates a docking exercise, utilizes equal area cartograms otherwise known as density-equalizing maps (Gastner and Newman 2004) to resize the territory according to 1993 population estimates. Our results indicate that: (i) using the criterion of distributional equivalence, we experience mixed success in replicating the original model given our inability to restrict the selection of partners to \'eligible\' neighbors and limit the number of agent interactions in a timestep; (ii) increasing the number of agents and introducing more realistic population distributions in our extension of the replication model increases distributional equivalence; (iii) using the weaker criteria of relational alignment, both the replication model and its extension capture the basic relationship between institutional effectiveness and civic change, the effect of open boundaries, historical shocks, and path dependence; and (iv) that replication and docking may be usefully combined in model-to-model analysis, with an eye towards verification, reimplementation, and alignment.Replication, Docking, Agent-Based Model, Italy, Social Capital

Development of the City Public Service Model on the Basis of Integrated Transport Flow Indicators

The problem of modeling public services based on architectural and planning decisions is considered, the role of traffic in the formation of a model of city services is analyzed. An integrated criterion for the quality of public services is proposed. A method has been developed for determining segmented public services taking into account the transport areas of the city, which will make it possible to evenly disperse public service centers. The basis is a socio-planning organization, as a material-spatial system containing anthropogenic and natural components – the territory and institutions where the functional processes that take place in the urban planning environment take place. The described model has certain versatility, and is simultaneously suitable for characterizing various categories of service institutions. Thus, the task of optimizing the quality of public services in the city is reduced to a mathematical model for which, by setting the basic design criteria, the optimal result can be obtained.On the basis of a questionnaire survey and analysis of statistical data, calculation of traffic intensity, the demand and supply of the level of public services фre studied. The structural elements of this model: population, territory, transport and service institutions, are in dialectical interaction, which is described by the mathematical model in this study. The model is based on the calculation of the minimum population in the service area, which allows to have i-th type establishments using the social potential method, as well as a graph-analytical method in determining the optimal location of service institutions in the city.As a result of the research, a conceptual model of public services for cities is built, a layout of supermarkets in the territory of Uzhhorod and distribution of service areas of these institutions is proposed. This optimization will ensure uniform domestic servicing of the territory, optimal performance indicators of service establishments and minimum average service radii of points