Chicago Tribune Wins "Tool Tip" Award for Election Map

It's been fascinating to watch how varies publications offer their version of the U.S. presidential election map. At this point, it's almost a given that all of them will let you change the electoral count for each candidate. But the battleground now seems to be what ancillary data can populate the map or in the case of the Chicago Tribune, what the tool tip should show as you "mouse over" each state. The Tribune shows the historical margin of victory for the presidential candidate in past elections. They've made it easy by color-coding by the typical red vs. blue for each winning party. So, the result is a compelling tool that allows the user to determine how deep or shallow the margin of victory is and also provides some intelligence for looking at the current polls to determine if the party has a strong foundation.

Comments

Unknown said…
Dear Mr.Hawk --

Actually the flash app was created by Los Angeles Times :-)

For those who want to have a cool tooltip as well, you can find the source at Razorberry's blog, the Times used a slightly modified version.

http://tinyurl.com/56j3hb
October 29, 2008 at 2:32 PM
BAbramms said…
ATTN: Joe Francica
Another low tech representation with a very high impact was created for ODTmaps.com by former Chicago Tribune cartographer, Paul Breding. His '08 Election map is posted at http://www10.GIScafe.com/nbc/articles/view_article.php?articleid=601182 and you can see the image (and download it for free (personal use only) at http://odtmaps.com/detail.asp_Q_product_id_E_pres-map-2008
November 1, 2008 at 1:24 PM
Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

USAToday Looks at Bleak Jobs Growth Outlook for 2010

The job outlook for 2010 doesn't look very rosy according to a map published by USAToday . Though the prospect for job growth will rebound in some areas, most states will continue to so slow or no growth. Hardest hit continue to be Florida, the upper Midwest, and Nevada. The bright spots include the corridor of Texas, Colorado, Wyoming, Idaho and Washington State where jobs in energy and technology are likely to be found. By metro area, look toward Huntville, Alabama, my current hometown, where jobs gowth is expected to be the highest in the country with a projected growth of 2.9%. This high tech mecca will see job growth due to Base Realignment and Closure (BRAC) and the supporting jobs that will move into the region.
Read more

Chinese Investments in Raw Materials Mapped by Forbes.com

Image
Forbes.com created a graduated symbol map (see thumbnail at right) of the investments that the Chinese have made in various raw material sectors such as energy, minerals, and transportation. The interactive map illustrates: the accelerated growth in the number of investments made over the past five years the size of each investment the industry sector Tool tips appear as you hover the cursor over each symbol that shows: the investor the amount of the investment when the investment was made the industry sector What is striking about the portrayal of the data is not the size so much as the rapidity with which the investments have been made over just the last two years. If you watch the animated sequence, you will see how many of the investments were accomplished just recently. The feeding frenzy for raw materials is what is driving infrastructure growth throughout the Mainland.
Read more

National Media Scrambles with Maps of Haiti

As the geospatial community rushes into support rescue efforts with as much detail as possible, the national media has produced a variety of different maps to help tell the story. Wall Street Journal - The WSJ has produced a series of three excellent, interactive maps : LATEST UPDATES: a thematic map of estimated damages by block and the locations of key places like the National Palace or the UN building as well as tent camps. BEFORE AND AFTER: a satellite image base with point locations of major structures where you can view photos of before and after shots. TECTONICS: A population map overlayed with a map of the Gonave microplate and the location of the earthquake with concentric zone showing quake intensity. USA Today - Map of earthquakes with more than 1000 deaths ; provides a bit of history of and the location of major crustal plates that gives the reader a lession in plate tectonics New York Times - Map showing magnitude of the disaster and details on t...
Read more