A brief look at map projections

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Each and every map represents a distorted view of reality. Therefore, cartograms are not as unusual as they might appear at a first glance. Map projections are a central aspect of the Worldmapper project because the maps (respectively cartograms) featured in the project are basically not different from some sort of re-projection of the world, albeit in a different way than conventional projections used in cartography. Rather than trying to solve the conflicts of distortion when drawing a three dimensional surface on to a two dimensional area (be it a screen or a paper map), the worldmapper cartograms distort our image of the world on purpose and show each country in proportion to a specific topic. This is reason enough to reflect a little bit on what map projections are and in what way they create a distorted view of the world.

Worldmapper map using different projections

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Money

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Financial meltdown, recovery, inequality, injustice. Doom and gloom everywhere. But the world has been a strange place before, and it is very much about money. The following music video assembles a showcase of worldmapper maps to the lyrics and music of Money, a song by N.A.S.A. feat. David Byrne, Chuck D, Ras Congo, Seu Jorge & Z-Trip:

Money – Worldmapper Edition

There is a HD version available on YouTube, where you can also access the full accompanying lyrics as subtitles.

The content on this page has been created by Benjamin Hennig. Please contact me for further details on the terms of use.

2010 Worldcup goals map

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Red and yellow dominated the final match of the worldcup with a remarkable 14 cards in these colours shown in the 120 minutes, and red-yellow eventually also taking the trophy, just as Paul predicted. One goal was enough for Spain, demonstrating once again their efficiency: Spain scored 8 of the tournament’s 145 goals in their seven matches to the title. The following map shows, how the nations compare in terms of goals – from Germany’s 16 (with Thomas Müller taking the Golden Boot) to Algeria’s. The second maps in contrast shows all goals conceded, from North Korea’s unfortunate 12 to Portugal and Switzerland’s 1:

All 2010 Worldcup goals on a map(click map for a larger view)

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Worldcup Economics

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The Football Worldcup is claimed to have a significant impact on the global economy, one of the reasons why so many countries are keen on hosting this event. Others are looking at the relationship between GDP and performance of teams at the Football Worldcup, which is well worth mapping. Here is a map that shows the participating countries of the 2010 Football Worldcup resized according to their Gross Domestic Product. In addition, all countries are coloured in different shadings of green – the darker green, the further the respective national team has proceeded in this year’s tournament. Obviously, economic wealth alone can’t buy success:

(click map for a larger view)

The previous map is of course missing out all other countries of the world. To complete the picture, the following map shows the same economic data (GDP), this time for the whole world, with the 32 nations participating in the 2010 Worldcup being coloured white, and those who missed out in black. The winners so far are marked with yellow stars (the number of stars indicating the numbers of trophys that a team has won at FIFA Worldcup tournaments):

(click map for a larger view)

Even if there may be links between economic wealth and success in football, this alone can hardly be the whole explanation for a team’s fortune. Interesting nevertheless to see, how the football world compares beyond the borders of the game.

The content on this page has been created by Benjamin Hennig. Please contact me for further details on the terms of use.

2010 Football Worldcup Maps

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The Football Worldcup has entered its hot phase: The teams for the round of the last 16 is complete, and people around the world are embracing for the all-deciding playoffs. Well, not quite around the world. From the participants perspective, half of the 32 teams are already heading home. It may be half of the teams, but these do only represent some people at home: Many of the countries in the round of the last 16 are quite populous countries, as the following map reveals. It shows the worldcup participating countries resized according to their population size. The additional colour key shows quickly which countries are still in the tournament: Green represents those in the second round, whereas the red countries are out after the first round.

Football Worldcup 2010: The supporting population(click map for a larger view)

The map also confirms the inequality of the world of football. Not only the people of South Africa are no longer seeing their team compete, but most of the African competitors had to leave the first worldcup on the African continent early. The unequal shape of the football world is once more confirmed here, even if some of the big players already struggled (note the red patches in Europe).
Looking at population, one more map shows how few people are actually represented at the 2010 Worldcup: The following map is a world population cartogram (with updated population figures for 2010). This time, red countries are those who are (more or less) neutral observers of this event. These countries do not take part in the 2010 tournament – far more than half of the world population. Green countries are the participants (all of them, even those who are already out again), and an equal area map is added as an insect to see how some of the countries strike out with their large population:

(click map for a larger view)

Nevertheless, it remains a global event, with the largest audience that a sport event can get these days. So there is a lot to cheer and boo even beyond the borders of the participating nations. And in the end it’s only a game…isn’t it?

The content on this page has been created by Benjamin Hennig. Please contact me for further details on the terms of use.

South Africa: A people’s view

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The ball is rolling, and the football world looks at South Africa and the South African people, who keep the world entertained with the unique Vuvuzela sounds. There are an estimated 49,320,000 living in the country, with an area of 1 221 037 square km this makes a population density of 41/km2. But the population is far from being equally distributed across the country. The following special worldcup edition of worldmapper’s gridded population cartograms shows where people are really living, and in which dimension the cities strike out in the population distribution. For easy orientation, all worldcup host cities are labelled. In addition elevation information is added to the map, so that one can see how many people live at which elevations.

A map of the population distribution and elevation in South Africa, including all 2010 Worldcup host citiesClick here for a larger view

The content on this page has been created by Benjamin Hennig. Please contact me for further details on the terms of use.