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United States
Washington State Abolishes Capital Punishment
Thursday, the Washington State Supreme Court declared the death penalty unconstitutional. The ruling makes Washington the 20th state to abolish the capital punishment. The majority did not say that executing people who commit heinous crimes is inherently wrong, or in itself unconstitutional, but stated that “the association between race and the death penalty is not attributed to random chance” – repeatedly referring to a study by the University of Washington that revealed systemic bias against black defendants. In 2014, Gov. Inslee ordered a moratorium on all executions. In the past 20 years, the use of the death penalty has declined across the country, however it is still permitted by the federal government and U.S. military.This map depicts States with and wihout the death penalty, and imposed moratorium (as of October 11, 2018). Click on the map to learn more.
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Uganda
Deadly Landslide
After heavy rains in eastern Uganda, the Suume River burst its banks which triggered landslides in Bukalasi, Uganda. The landslide tore through the area, bringing heavy boulders that destroyed homes and livestock and killed at least 36 people. Rescue efforts are still underway and officials fear the death toll will rise. The region is prone to landslides; in 2010 a landslide killed more than 300 people. After landslides occur, the government tries to relocate survivors but many return to the high-risk area because of fertile soils and the desire to remain on their ancestral lands. This map depicts the location of Bukalasi, Uganda where the landslide occurred. Click on the map to learn more.
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Graphic Source: Yahoo
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Democratic Republic of Congo
Ebola Outbreak Cases Spike
The Ebola outbreak in the Democrartic Republic of Congo (DRC) is expected to last several more months according to a new World Health Organization report issued on Thursday. Health workers are currently trying to contain the disease in an active war zone, with most cases occurring in Beni, where there have been multiple attacks. The rate of Ebola cases in the (DRC) has more than doubled since September, and health workers fear that it could spread to neighboring countries, Uganda and Rwanda, over the coming months. According to the International Rescue Committee, there have been 33 new cases of the virus between October 1st and 9th, on top of to the 41 total cases during the month of September. This map depicts both confirmed and probable cases of Ebola in the D.R.C. Click on the map to learn more.
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| Maps are powerful devices that can put into visuals what words often cannot. While a map may have substantial content, often times the way it is designed can make or break its impact on the reader. While not particularly clear, this choropleth map of the United States is meant to show efficiency of land use consumption per capita. This map could be improved in many ways, but perhaps its most jarring aspect may be a thing people don’t often consider: its coloring.
The map’s colors are visually appealing; in fact this red to green color scheme is commonly used for many purposes – from street lights to weather maps in depicting rainfall. This red to green scheme does however present a severe legibility problem to those who do not see the full color spectrum. While most people may be able to instantly see which colors represent highest and lowest efficiency according to the legend in this map, this is not the case for those who are color blind. Only about 7% of males and .4% of females are color blind, however the most common form of colorblindness includes the inability to see both red and green colors. While diverging color ramps are a great tool for maps to convey a range of data for comparison, this particular color scale simply is not inclusive. Within the past few decades cartographers have begun to take into consideration how different people percieve color, changing their color ramps instead to diverging color ramps from yellow to purple, orange to blue, or other alternatives that can still convey a powerful message without leaving readers out of the equation.
This map also does not have a proper title. While the bolded legend might seem descriptive, it does not substitute for an informational heading. The legend also uses ten different color groupings, which makes it difficult to understand the map. The legend’s title, DL Rank(%), is unnecessary and ambiguous, and clearly is the default setting of common mapping softwares. The map also lacks a neat-line, border, and comfortable use of negative space – core cartographic elements that helps tie the map together. Ultimately, maps are complex visualizations of data. Just because all of the data may be present, does not mean that it is complete or represeted accurately. A map’s design must be as powerful as the data it portrays.
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Q: Which country in the world has the highest percentage of trees in relation to their total land area?
A: Suriname
95% of Suriname’s land area is covered by trees. Micronesia comes in second with 92% of it’s land area covered by trees,
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Q: What country holds the oldest rainforest in the world?
Stay tuned for the answer to today’s question in Monday’s DailyGeo.
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