Visualizing Spatial Relationships - Data Points: Visualization That Means Something - page 310

P You can watch
the growth of
Target stores at
http://datafl
.ws/198 .

FIGurE 8-35 Animated map showing growth of Target stores

People have been so interested for two main reasons. The first is that
the animated map enables you to see patterns that you wouldn't see with
a time series plot. A regular plot would show only the number of store
openings per year, which is fine if that's the story you want to tell, but the
animated maps show growth that's more organic, especially with the Wal-
mart one.

The second reason is that the map is immediately understandable to a
general audience. When the animation starts, you know what you're see-
ing. I'm not saying there isn't value in visualization that takes time to inter-
pret; it's often the opposite. However, there's a low time threshold for the
web, so because the map is intuitive (and that people can zoom in on their
own local areas) certainly helped the eager sharing.

CrEATE AN ANIMATED GroWTh MAP
In this example, you create the Walmart growth map in ActionScript. You
use Modest Maps, an ActionScript mapping library to provide interaction
and the base map. The rest you code yourself. Download the complete
source code at http://book.flowingdata.com/ch08/Openings_src.zip . Instead

P Download
Modest Maps
at http://-
modestmaps.com .