The term “heat map” has become increasingly confused. Perhaps it doesn’t matter, but for the record the above map is a choropleth map. It’s been branded by Google (as one of the Google Gadgets) with the sexier label “heat map”, and this (mis)usage is catching on. The term heat map is already [...]
posts tagged 'choropleth'
Apr 08 2008
choropleth mapping and standardization
Choropleth maps, like the one above, use the visual variable of value (aka shade or lightness), sometimes in concert with hue or saturation, to present data about featues. Academic cartographers teach that this symbology should only be used in certain circumstances.
The phenomenon being mapped must be thought to vary only between enumeration units, and [...]