GEOGRAPHY

This map is an American snapshot; it provides an accessible visualization of geographic distribution, population density, and racial diversity of the American people in every neighborhood in the entire country. (Fast Company)

Use our resources to start learning about spatial thinking and data visualization.

Discussion Ideas

• The dazzling map of the United States was produced by a demographer. What is demography?
  • Demography is a branch of statistics that studies patterns and characteristics of human populations.

 

• The map displays population density and racial demographics as reported by the 2010 U.S. Census. (We define race as an “arbitrary grouping of people based on genetics and physical characteristics.” Read this statement for a fuller statement on racial constructs.) What other demographics could be mapped?
  • Here are just a few:
    • age
    • gender or sex
    • primary language spoken
    • number of people living in a household
    • income
    • level of education completed
    • primary method of transportation

 

• Watch the video above, which features demographers talking about the Racial Dot Map. The demographers say the map is an example of data visualization. What is data visualization?
  • Data visualization is the visual representation of information, including maps, graphics, tables, and charts.
  • As one demographer in the video says, data visualization is very important—it’s “how we display information in ways that make it easy to understand.”
  • Jer Thorp, a Nat Geo Emerging Explorer, is a data artist. He says “Visualizing data is an act of mapping. If we think about mapping as a mechanism to understand the world, then that’s what we’re always doing with data visualization.” In fact, Jer believes that data visualization and mapping grew out of the same desire to “give ourselves a picture of where we are in the world.”

 

• What are some data visualization techniques?
  • Mapping, obviously. Demographers and mapmakers choose what type of map to display their data—a political map or a physical map, for instance. They must decide on a map projection—learn more about that process in this video. They must also decide how to represent their data on the map—as colors, patterns, or symbols, for instance.
  • charts—simple or sophisticated
  • graphs
  • tables
  • timelines

 

• What data visualization or mapping techniques did Dustin Cable, the demographer who made this map, use?
  • He used a a color-coded dot density map. A dot density map is a representation of spatial information using dots to represent the number of people, characteristics, or actions in a specific area.

 

• What does each dot on the map represent?
  • Each dot represents a single person. There are more than 300 million dots on the map, representing more than 300 million people living in the United States.
  • The color of each dot represents the race of the person. Racial identification was self-reported in the 2010 U.S. Census.

 

• Think about population density. (Turning off the color-coding on the map might help.) What regions in the U.S. are sparsely populated? What areas are densely populated? Turn on the map labels to help give you some perspective.
  • sparse: The Great Basin area is very sparsely populated, as is the upper Midwest region.
  • dense: The eastern U.S. is much, much more densely populated than the West.
  • Zoom, zoom, zoom to get more specific in your hometown!

 

• How might the demographics on this map be useful? Read through our activity “Introduction to GIS” for some guidance.
  • In general, data visualization helps identify patterns and relationships among data.
  • The demographer in the video offers some suggestions: urban planning for schools, transportation needs, housing, and construction.

 

• Compare the U.S. Racial Dot Map with the U.K. Ethnicity Map, which was built using the same code. What are some similarities? What are some differences?
  • Similarities:
    • Population density in both countries seems to be weighed to the east.
    • Both nations have a plurality of people reporting their race or ethnicity as white.
    • Both nations have large Asian populations.
  • Differences:
    • The racial or ethnic categories are slightly different: The U.S. identifies white, black, Asian, Hispanic, and a general category for others. The U.K. identifies white, black, Asian, mixed-race, and a general category for others.

 

• What might be some limitations to this beautiful dot density map?
  • The data on this map does not represent the ethnic, cultural, linguistic, and economic diversity within each race. (Racial demographics are complex. There is almost always more intra-group diversity than inter-group diversity.)
    • The “Asian” populations grouped together as red dots, for example, may include Indian, Chinese, and Iranian communities; speakers of Japanese, Hmong, and Farsi; wealthy visa-holders, middle-class migrants, and poverty-stricken refugees.

 

• What data would YOU like to see on this map? How would you visualize it?
  • For example: Where are veterans living? This should be a fairly straightforward, federally available demographic to represent in a dot density map. Here are some fascinating data visualizations (from POV and Washington Post) that track veteran populations using choropleth maps, which use colors or patterns to represent types or intensity of data.

 

• Can you find YOUR dot on the map? Here’s my hometown. Hi, Mom!

TEACHERS’ TOOLKIT

Weldon Cooper Center for Public Service, University of Virginia: The Racial Dot Map

Nat Geo: Map Skills for Elementary Students

Nat Geo: Data Artist: Jer Thorp

Yes, technically this isn’t a current event—it uses four-year-old data in a year-and-a-half-old map. It’s still a great, relevant timesink.