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Data Vis Dispatch
January 21st, 2025

Data Vis Dispatch, January 21: AI, inauguration, and ceasefire

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

Vivien Serve
Vivien Serve

Welcome back to the 177th 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 artificial intelligence, the presidential inauguration in the U.S., and the ceasefire in Gaza.

The Gaza ceasefire announced last week marks a temporary stop to a 15-month conflict that’s left tens of thousands dead and destroyed vast stretches of land:

Corriere della Serra: Cosa succede ora a Gaza: i dettagli del piano per il cessate il fuoco e il rilascio degli ostaggi
[What’s Happening Now in Gaza: Details of the Ceasefire and Hostage Release Plan], January 15
Bloomberg: Gaza Ceasefire Brings Fragile Reprieve After 15-Month Conflict, January 15

A conflict that affected not only Gaza and Israel, but the entire Middle East:

El Orden Mundial: El mapa de la nueva geopolítica de Oriente Próximo: las zonas de influencia de cada potencia [The map of the new geopolitics of the Middle East: the zones of influence of each power], January 14
The Economist: A short history of Syria, in maps, January 15

On Monday, January 20 Donald Trump was sworn in as U.S. president — again. These data visualizations looked back at the election and documented the ceremony:

New York Times: An Extremely Detailed Map of the 2024 Election, January 17
The Wall Street Journal: The Who’s Who of Trump’s Exclusive Inauguration Ceremony, January 20

…they also looked back on the Biden presidency:

The Times: On Joe Biden’s last day in office, what is his legacy?, January 20
The Wall Street Journal: How Trump’s New America Compares With 2017, in 11 Charts, January 19
Bloomberg: Trump Team Readies Oil Sanctions Plan for Russia Deal, Iran Squeeze, January 16

Two charts specifically portrayed the U.S. voting system. The New York Times envisioned a multi-party system in the U.S:

New York Times: How to Fix America’s Two-Party Problem, January 14
Le Monde: Kamala Harris aurait pu battre Donald Trump en « retournant » 135 307 voix dans quatre Etats-clés, malgré ses 2,3 millions de voix de retard [Chart title: Winner’s lead and votes needed to reverse the result], January 19

Which Trump companies will benefit from his renewed presidency, and where could he face conflicts of interest?

Bloomberg: Trump’s ‘Canceled’ Empire Makes Comeback Rivaling Political Rise, January 17
New York Times: An Illustrated Guide to Trump’s Conflict of Interest Risks, January 17

Trump has already signed his first executive orders, and repealed nearly 80 of his predecessor’s. China is preparing for possible U.S. trade sanctions:

New York Times: Who Are the Millions of Immigrants Trump Wants to Deport?, January 17
South China Morning Post: Trump’s team and their views on China, January 18
Bloomberg: China Is Scouring the Globe in Search of New Food Suppliers, January 14

Trump’s presidency prompts RJ Andrews to predict that more charts will pop up the next years, because charts thrive on times of crisis. Like here this map of damage after the Second World War in Germany:

Chartography: Prepare Yourself. Charts are coming, January 21

Speaking of Germany: the Germans will elect a new government in about a month. How are the polls looking?

Zeit Online: Wer führt in den aktuellen Umfragen?, January 21
Le Temps: En graphiques – Les sondages et Ela course à la chancellerie allemande [In Charts – Polls and the Race for German Chancellor], January 16
Tagesspiegel: Die neuesten Sonntagsfragen zur Bundestagswahl 2025 im Trend, January 20
YouGov: First YouGov MRP model of the 2025 German election shows gains for right, January 17

What are possible coalitions? Why did the previous government fail? Who gets how much funding? And what are the real consequences for the population of each party programme?

Der Spiegel: So würde Deutschland heute wählen [Chart description: Based on 1000 simulated election results, we calculated the number of seats for each coalition. Each result is shown as a square.], January 20
Financial Times: How Germany declined under Olaf Scholz — in charts, January 16
Der Spiegel: Das nehmen CDU, SPD und Co. im Wahlkampf ein [Chart description: Large donations to political parties of over 35,000 euros], January 20
Zeit Online: Wie gut passt der Bundestag zum Volk? [How well does the Bundestag match the people?], January 20
Süddeutsche Zeitung: Was die Wahlversprechen der Parteien jedem Bürger finanziell bringen [What the parties’ election promises mean financially for every citizen], January 17
[Chart descriptions: How the selected proposals change disposable income for different annual gross incomes in percentages (left chart) and in euros (right chart) ]

Checking in on Argentina’s president, Javier Milei, and how his promise to fight inflation is working so far:

The Economist: Is Javier Milei’s economic gamble working?, January 14

Last week’s Dispatch was filled with visualizations of the Los Angeles wildfires. It’s not over yet. This week we found maps about the terrible aftermath of these fires and the high risk that still remains:

New York Times: The 24 Hours When L.A. Went Up in Flames, January 18
New York Times: More Americans Than Ever Are Living in Wildfire Areas. L.A. Is No Exception, January 15
La Data Cuenta: Incendios en Los Ángeles: ¿Y si hubieran ocurrido en tu ciudad? [Los Angeles Fires: What If They Happened in Your City?], January 18

The State of the Data Visualization Industry report came out this week. It shows that the use of AI tools should not be underestimated:

Data Visualization Society: Data Visualization State of the Industry Survey, January 18
Rest of World: Despite tensions, U.S.-China AI research collaborations are alive and well, January 15
Our World in Data: Scaling up: how increasing inputs has made artificial intelligence more capable, January 20

Two scrollytelling stories caught our attention: one about how data can help with loneliness, and one about soccer:

The Boston Globe: How I learned to stop feeling so lonely, January 16
Mundo Deportivo: El tridente demoledor de Flick [Flick’s demolishing trident], January 16

And finally, ski roses, a tool to illustrate the p-value issue, industrial chemicals in Spanish groundwater, climate stress in the Arctic Circle, and a huge interactive archive of Nokia design over the years:

OpenSkiStats: Which way do you ski?, January 19
Yan Holtz: “Stop chasing the p-value! Increasing your sample size will always yield a significant result. Even for trivial differences […],” January 16 (Bluesky)
DataDista: Alerta pfas: 70 años de engaños de la industria química que ya han llegado al grifo y a 270° tu sangre [Chart description: Map of municipalities with the presence of PFAS in tap water with values at or above the legal limit and (green) o measurements that are at 60% of their limit value (orange). At the moment, only 44% of municipalities have reported their PFAS analyses], January 14
Woodwell Climate Research Center: Arctic hotspots study reveals areas of climate stress in Northern Alaska, Siberia, January 16
Aalto University: Nokia Design Archive — explore the ideas that shaped our world, January 15 (Archive)

What else we found interesting

RJ Andrews: “Sandra Sawatzky’s 220-foot tapestry charting the long history of oil, in 3-D,” January 20 (Bluesky)
Diario SUR: Un colegio ecológico, en la cumbre del arte moderno [An ecological school at the pinnacle of modern art], January 19
CLEVER°FRANKE: “Our Dolby Atmos live visualization for LudoWic at ADE 2024 transformed spatial audio into dynamic visuals on 32 screens. Explore how technology and artistry created an immersive experience,” January 16 (Bluesky)
South China Morning Post: All you need to know about Year of the Snake, January 21

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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.

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