The result was a striking before-and-after illustration of the earthquake’s destruction of Port-au-Prince. This style has been showing up much more frequently lately, particularly with satellite imagery.Īfter the recent Haiti disaster, the New York Times used composite images taken from space to create an interactive map that showed the destruction. The difference is that the before-and-after method shows only two states. Like the timeline approach, this one shows multiple states of the same location. An example of this is street names, which are hidden from view at the magnification shown below. This keeps broader views from being cluttered by details that have little relevance at that scale. Some data may not be visible until a certain level of magnification is reached. With zooming, the map allows information to be examined more closely, rather than regroups data for a smaller area. This is different from the drill-down method because with zooming, the map is typically not rebuilt or reorganized for each level of magnification. The main purpose is to show the correlation between the slider’s metric and the map’s content. The slider doesn’t necessarily have to represent time itself. This allows the user to control the specificity of data without being overwhelmed.Ī timeline slider shows progress over time on a map. By clicking on a specific country, the map reorients itself to mute other countries, and then does the same at the state and city level. Google Analytics presents a drill-down style for its world maps. The drill-down clearly groups information of magnitudes ranging anywhere from the “big picture” down to an individual case. When the user has to move through various levels of specificity of data, a drill-down style of navigation is commonly offered. Keep in mind that mixing and matching most of these methods is possible one does not necessarily preclude use of others. Below are some the of the most common among modern interactive maps. Other than panning and scrolling, there are a number of interesting ways to present digital maps. Contextual menus do not make legends obsolete across the board, just for simple “points of interest.” Common Types Of Map Navigation Heat maps, for example, display intensity by shade of color, and users usually require a reference bar to make sense of the information. Legends are still needed in certain cases. To illustrate just how intuitive this kind of action has become to Web users, try out the “ America’s Best Adventures” map below:Ĭlicking a dot brings up a contextual window. The results in fewer steps and less eye movement to accomplish the same goal. Instead of having to refer to an explanation of the symbol in the margins, the user simply clicks on a point to find out more about it. Contextual windows eliminate the need for legends in many online maps. On traditional print maps, the legend serves as a translator for the symbols used. These actions enable the user to focus their browser on the amount of information that they’re comfortable with. Panning and zooming are fundamental to the interactive map. With online interactive maps, the simple action of moving sliders around reveals relationships between data and content. If a print map is not clear initially, a person can do very little to make sense of it. These are advantages that traditional print maps do not have. Showing relationships between data is easier when the user has the power to change the visuals. Interactive maps on the Internet present data most effectively when they invite action from the user. One of the most rapidly improving tools for interactive presentation is the map. The expansion of Web technology over the past decade has opened a number of doors to presenting data online. Show relationships and trends geographically,.Three main areas seem to represent the majority of tasks: Part of this question is already answered with the What Makes a Map Beautiful? question which has some-web maps as does What Makes a Map be classed as Badly Designed? but we're more interested in a diverse range of maps rather than just the beautiful and bad.This isn’t a lesson in cartography, but understanding the purposes that maps can serve in modern Web design is important. Any online map that is either interactive or dynamically updates itself would qualify. To this end, we're now looking for examples of wonderful, weird, functional, beautiful, and just plain awesome web maps that are out there. It is not currently accepting new answers or interactions.Īs part of an internal "learn at work month" program, myself and a colleague have volunteered to do a presentation: "The Wonderful World of Web Maps". Edit existing answers to improve this post. This question's answers are a community effort.
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