Mapping Distributions

For this lab assignment, I chose to depict the Maternal Mortality Ratio in the Middle East. I chose this group of countries to depict a statistic concerning women’s health as it is a region that most people associate with a large gender imbalance and I thought this assignment would be a way to investigate this stereotype. First, I toyed with the idea of using different classification methods but most of the other methods were more appropriate for data that was either linear or fit a curve, which my data does not. So, natural breaks (jenks) were used for all three maps.


The first method of presentation is in terms of a color gradient, like in the census lab. This is a very straightforward presentation, appropriate if you are attempting to illuminate the data for more objective and less pedagogical reasons- a simple presentation of the facts.


The second method of presentation uses dot density and is probably the least appropriate for this data set. Using a physical unit on the map to denote a unit or amount of units is not appropriate when the country size varies so differently. It also might give one an incorrect idea that the data actually has that geographic shape when it is really the work of the computer.


The third method of presentation uses graduated symbols. This is my favorite way to present the data, as we can instantly get a sense of the scale of the differences between countries. The amount of deaths in Afghanistan dominates the map and drives that statistic home, something that is lost in the first map. It seems like a good compromise between the two other sets of data- visually striking but still factual.