The big news today, apart from Birtney’s divorce, is the results of the US Midterms Elections that were held yesterday. Democrats have been gaining ground, voting machines have failed and the columnists are busy analyzing all that happened yesterday. Election-time is also a time where geographical information, and by extension, maps. Election after election, media try to improve their way to communicate this information effectively. Let’s review the main maps found over the internet this morning.

1. New York Times: The top spot goes to the New York Times. All loaded with AJAX Flash goodness, this map presents a lot of information, but it does not look cluttered at all. You can access to the big picture in a glimpse and you can dive into detailed results with a single click. Bonus points are awarded because you can view the map as a cartogram, offering an original and comprehensive look at the situation. They also offer a tool to compare the results of this election to those of the 2004 presidential in all close states. Many international media (such as La Presse, in Montréal) have put a link to their map because it’s so well done.
2. MSNBC proposes (rather unsurprisingly!) a map based on the Windows Local Live engine. While not as friendly as Google Maps and much slower than other solutions presented here (who needs to map the entire world when presenting results restricted to US only?), the MSNBC map presents key races, and detailed facts about each race when needed. It also offers to dig deeper into details when needed. Overall, it’s pretty good.
3. Pollster specializes in poll maps, so they do not have data about the election results in itself. However, their map is very well presented and you can use it easily to find the data you like (if you happen to like pre-election polls). It’s technically well done and is pleasing to the eye.
4. CNN has managed to drown a map under all kind of tables and statistics. While not particularly detailed or fast, it does its job quite well. It’s the only site that has an option to enlarge the map in case you want to see smaller details. Too bad that their site feels cluttered and that you have to fight your way into it to get access to the map.
5. BBC: Surprisingly, the BBC has been quite minimalistic in their mapping. They only offer a map of the United States on which you can click to load the page associated to the state you requested. Looks like they either lacked time to do more or just didn’t want to. Disappointing.

I think I have covered most of the mainstream media. While many media have kept their mapping to a minimum (either a static image or just a clickable image like at the BBC), some have went for more detailed solutions. Marketwatch, usually specialized in stock quotes, has tried to put together a Google Maps application. It’s good, but it’s not quite there yet. As time passes, I think that we will see more maps of high quality that aim to interact with the user. And it’s all good for us!

November 8th, 2006 | Earth Sciences and Geomatics