This article is brought to you by Datawrapper, a data visualization tool for creating charts, maps, and tables. Learn more.

All Blog Topics
Data Vis Dispatch
December 10th, 2024

Data Vis Dispatch, December 10

The best of last week’s big and small data visualizations

Vivien Serve
Vivien Serve

Welcome back to the 172nd edition of the Data Vis Dispatch! Every week, we publish a collection of the best small and large data visualizations we find, especially from news organizations — to celebrate data journalism, data visualization, simple charts, elaborate maps, and their creators.

Recurring topics this week include the reconstruction of Notre Dame, fall of the Assad regime in Syria, and sports all over the world.

After a massive fire in 2019 and an intensive five-year rebuilding effort, the cathedral of Notre-Dame de Paris reopened to the public last week:

New York Times: A Miracle: Notre-Dame’s Astonishing Rebirth From the Ashes, December 5
Der Spiegel: Notre-Dame in 3D – so gelang Frankreich die Expressrestaurierung [Notre-Dame in 3D – how France achieved the express restoration], December 7
Radio Televisión Española: Notre-Dame, la catedral que resucitó del fuego [Notre-Dame, the cathedral that rose from the fire], December 5

Post-election charts display voter shifts in the U.S. and Romania:

New York Times: Is the Urban Shift Toward Trump Really About Democratic Cities in Disarray?, December 6
Bloomberg: The TikTok-Loving Conspiracy Theorist Upending Romanian Politics, December 5

We could call the next set of political visualizations “failed governments” — from France, where the Bernier government fell to a no-confidence vote; to South Korea, where President Yoon faces suspension; to the Philippines, where impeachment proceedings target Vice President Sara Duterte:

Le Monde: Censure du gouvernement Barnier : qui sont les députés qui ont voté pour ? [Censure of the Barnier government: who are the deputies who voted for it?], December 5
Bloomberg: Can Macron Find a Path Out of France’s Political Impasse?, December 6
Reuters: South Korea’s short-lived martial law: How it unfolded and what’s next, December 6
Data Dictionary: “Impeachment complaints have been filed against Philippine Vice President Sara Duterte. Over recent years, four impeachment proceedings have figured in Philippine politics, but only one has so far culminated to a trial and actual removal from office,” December 9 (Tweet)

But week’s political news was dominated by one astonishing development: the end of Bashar al-Assad’s dictatorship in Syria:

The New York Times: Assad Arrives in Russia After Fleeing Syria, Russian Media Says, December 8
Zeit Online: Sie brauchten nur zehn Tage, December 9
The Wall Street Journal: The 11-Day Blitz by Syrian Rebels That Ended 50 Years of Assad Rule, December 11
El Mundo: Fin de una era en Siria: los rebeldes toman control de Damasco tras trece años de guerra contra Asad
[End of an era in Syria: rebels take control of Damascus after thirteen years of war against Assad], December 8
The Washington Post: A visual timeline of the stunning offensive that ended Assad’s regime, December 8
Financial Times: The 7 days that ended 50 years of Assad rule — in maps, December 8
South China Morning Post: Isis comeback? Syria power vacuum marks opportunity for jihadists, December 10
The New York Times: See How the War in Syria Has Changed, December 8
The Washington Post: Why capture of Syrian city Homs could be key moment in rebel offensive, December 6
The Guardian: Israel, US and Turkey launch strikes in Syria to protect interests, December 9

Visualizations of the Russia-Ukraine war focused on (the not-very-effective) international sanctions against Russia:

Le Monde: En cartes : la Russie à l’épreuve des sanctions occidentales [Chart title: The limited effect of sanctions against Putin’s regime], December 7
Bloomberg: Russia’s Military Found a Surprisingly Simple Way to Buy US Chips, December 10
Miska Knapek: “the EU Commission has a new Sanctions Tracker website up, where one can explore EU sanctions in all manner of ways, ” December 7 (Bluesky, EU sanctions tracker)
Financial Times: Russia uses civilians as ‘target practice’ for killer drones, December 4

“It’s her, hi.” It’s been a while since we mentioned Taylor Swift, but here we are again:

The Wall Street Journal: Billions in Cocktails and Friendship Bracelets: How Taylor Swift Juiced the Economy, December 8
The Economist: Taylor Swift, imperfect capitalist?, December 6

From one ridgeline plot to another — now in the climate category:

Financial Times: Climate graphic of the week: First ice-free day in the Arctic Ocean may come before 2030, study shows, December 7
Bloomberg: The Quest to Make Clean Energy Even Cleaner, December 4

This week we found two dashboards that focus specifically on bird migrations:

Maps Mania: “The European Turtle Dove embarks on an incredible 5,000 km migration every year! Explore this and the journeys of 300+ bird species with the Bird Migration Atlas,” December 4 (Tweet, Bird Migration Atlas)
Maps Mania: The Bird Migration Atlas, December 4 (Article, Bird Migration Explorer)

Health and food, or what we (don’t) take in, are closely linked:

Our World in Data: Large amounts of antibiotics are used in livestock, but several countries have shown this doesn’t have to be the case, December 9
Reuters: The world’s hunger watchdog warned of catastrophe in Sudan. Famine struck anyway, December 5 Compelling visualizations for a sensitive topic
The Times: Which generation is the most unhealthy?, December 8

Who are your neighbors? What defines your neighborhood?

The Washington Post: Why so many Americans prefer sprawl to walkable neighborhoods, December 7
The Washington Post: What’s America’s largest ethnic group, and why did we get it wrong for so long?, December 6

A new issue of “Works in Progress” dropped last week, and it’s packed with data visualizations about cows, subways, and more:

Works in Progress: How Madrid built its metro cheaply, December 5
Works in Progress: How big data created the modern dairy cow, December 5

From time to time we like to appreciate a simple but interesting line chart:

Pew Research Center: 38% of webpages from 2013 are no longer accessible, December 5
Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung: Die Dax-Erfolgsgeschichte überdeckt viele Mängel [Chart title: The chronology of the DAX], December 9

We end this Dispatch with a fun topic for fans — not always for players, as the data shows. Sports! Join us on a journey from Japanese to American football, from trail running in Hong Kong to a British Formula 1 driver:

Nikkei Asia: 欧州所属5年で9割増, 日本サッカ—躍進が生む好循環 [90% increase in 5 years in Europe, Japan Soccer’s Breakthrough Generates a Virtuous Circle], December 9
Bloomberg: Pushed to Play, December 6
South China Morning Post: Race of endurance, December 6
Der Spiegel: Die außergewöhnliche Karriere des Lewis Hamilton, December 7

What else we found interesting

Martin Wattenberg: “How can we visualize what a book ISN’T talking about? With an anti-tag cloud! See the most common English words that are never mentioned in a text,” December 8 (Bluesky, Anti-Tag Cloud)
Amelia Wattenberger: Fish Eyes, December 3
Datacitron: “[04/24] What’s your level of certainty about the answer to this one? […]” December 1 (Bluesky)
Datacitron: “[08/24] If you found yesterday riddle too difficult, this one should be a nice walk in the countryside. Can you believe we’ve already been doing this for a week?” December 8 (Bluesky)

Applications are open for…

Help us make this dispatch better! We’d love to hear which newsletters, blogs, or social media accounts we need to follow to learn about interesting projects, especially from less-covered parts of the world (Asia, South America, Africa). Write us at hello@datawrapper.de or leave a comment below.

Want the Dispatch in your inbox every Tuesday? Sign up for our Blog Update newsletter!

Vivien Serve
Vivien Serve
(she/her) is a working student on Datawrapper’s Communications team. She creates the Data Vis Dispatch to keep data visualization enthusiasts up to date on exciting new projects. When she’s not working, she studies interface design, and when she’s not studying, she’s planning a festival stage or soldering light installations. Vivien lives in Potsdam.

Comments