Data Vis Dispatch, July 20

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

Welcome back to the fifth edition of Data Vis Dispatch! Every week, we’ll be publishing 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 for this week include flooding in western Europe, drug deaths in the US, and an unprecedented vaccination drive in France.

Maps this week were dominated by the catastrophic floods in western Europe — how much rain fell, which rivers overflowed, and where people were caught in their path:

The Washington Post: Death toll from European floods passes 115 as receding waters reveal scope of devastation, July 16
Reuters: Floodwaters still rising in western Europe with death toll over 120, July 16
The Wall Street Journal: Germany Flooding Explained: What to Know About the Devastating Downpour, July 19
Neue Zürcher Zeitung: Starkregen und Hochwasser in der Schweiz, Hitzewellen in den USA – so trifft uns der Klimawandel, July 16
Neue Zürcher Zeitung: Unwetter in der Schweiz: Schiffsfahrten und Wassersport auf dem Vierwaldstättersee verboten, Hangrutsch am Rheinufer in Basel, July 16

In the midst of it all, Germany’s electoral campaign season continued:

The Economist: Who will succeed Angela Merkel?, July 14
Bloomberg: Angela Merkel’s Unfinished Business, July 15

It’s not every week that a single data set is so striking, so newsworthy, that no fewer than four sources deliver basically the same chart. But when you see the numbers on new vaccination appointments in France, we think you’ll agree they deserve this special treatment:

Edouard Mathieu: “Emmanuel Macron announced on Monday that a proof of vaccination (or a negative test) would very soon be needed to access public events, restaurants, cinemas, stations & airports… Since then, more than 2.2 million vaccination appointments have been booked in less than 48 hours,” July 14 (Tweet)
Agence France-Presse: “Plus de 926 000 rendez-vous de vaccination pour une première dose ont été pris via la plateforme #Doctolib le 12 juillet suite aux annonces d’Emmanuel Macron sur la généralisation du pass sanitaire en France,” July 13 (Tweet)
The Financial Times: Europe wields the stick to boost vaccination as Delta variant spreads, July 16
The Economist: Why vaccine-shy French are suddenly rushing to get jabbed, July 14

In the rest of the world, news on vaccination is mixed — an amazing success story for preventing deaths and hospitalizations, but a sobering outlook for global distribution and individual reluctance:

The Financial Times: Delta variant takes hold in developing world as infections soar, July 18
The New York Times: Unvaccinated States Feel Brunt of Delta-Led Covid Uptick, July 17
The New York Times: Africa’s Covid Crisis Deepens, but Vaccines Are Still Far Off, July 16
The Washington Post: For unvaccinated, coronavirus is soaring again, July 19
The Financial Times: Lifting England’s Covid rules while cases surge is ‘threat to the world,’ July 16

Finally, other COVID charts showed the economic effects of the pandemic and the long-term human consequences:

Bloomberg: Scarce Flights, Visa Issues Snarl Students’ Plans to Reach U.S., July 15
The Wall Street Journal: Half of U.S. States Ended Federal Covid-Related Jobless Benefits Early. Here Is How They Compare With the Other Half, July 16
Folha de S.Paulo: Brasil tem desaceleração de casos de Covid pela primeira vez em 8 meses, July 16
The Economist: A new study using wearable devices could help to define long covid, July 17

A break from the heavy topics for sports — an impressive lead in the Tour de France and the aftermath of a baseball crackdown:

De Tijd: Grootste voorsprong gele trui na 17de rit sinds 1999, July 15
The New York Times: The Pitchers Whose Spin Rates Fell Most After a Crackdown on Sticky Substances, July 19

This week also provided a sampler of demographic data vis — urbanization in Brazil, age distribution in Switzerland, racial segregation in Detroit, and asylum admissions in the US:

Folha de S.Paulo: Veja a evolução da população no Brasil em mapas, July 16
24 heures: Votre commune abrite-t-elle plus de jeunes ou de personnes âgées?, July 17 (Tweet)
NBC: Detroit segregation wall still stands, a stark reminder of racial divisions, July 19
The Washington Post: Cuba and Haiti upheaval could mean twin migration crises, July 14

In infrastructure, we saw risky residential construction in Florida and unequal home internet access in Mexico:

The Wall Street Journal: Two-Thirds of Miami Condo Buildings Are Older Than 30 Years. The Repair Bills Are Coming Due., July 14
Noma Data: “En México existe una falta de políticas públicas de acceso a internet,” July 18 (Tweet)

Data on drug-overdose deaths can be sliced and diced a few ways — but the grim scale remains the same:

The Economist: A record number of Americans died from drug overdoses in 2020, July 15
The New York Times: ‘It’s Huge, It’s Historic, It’s Unheard-of’: Drug Overdose Deaths Spike, July 14

But we’ll end on two lighter notes — an eyebrow-raising poll on US support for regional secession, and a high bar to clear for second-time authors:

The Why Axis: Two-thirds of Southern Republicans want to secede, July 14
The Economist: Is the myth of the difficult second novel fact or fiction?, July 16

What else we found interesting

Reuters: Devoured: How China’s largest freshwater lake was decimated by sand mining, July 19
The New York Times: What Matters in a Name Sign?, July 16
The Washington Post: How K-Pop Conquered the Universe, July 14
FiveThirtyEight: How Good Was That Skateboarder’s Kickflip? You Be The Olympic Judge, July 20
xkcd: Bad Map Projection: The Greenland Special, July 14
European Data Journalism Network: “Our brand new project is out! With @sheldon_studio we mapped the #gender in the toponyms of major #Italian (for now) cities. The over-representation of men is staggering!” July 15 (Tweet, Site)
La Nación: 100.000 muertos por coronavirus: la dimensión de una tragedia que aún no terminó, July 14

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.

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