Data Vis Dispatch
May 31st, 2022

Data Vis Dispatch, May 31

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

Profile image of Rose of the Datawrapper team
Rose Mintzer-Sweeney

Welcome back to the 47th 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 this week include transportation in London, wheat exports from Ukraine, and gun violence in the United States.

Last Tuesday, a mass shooting in Texas killed 19 elementary school students and two of their teachers:

The Washington Post: More than 311,000 students have experienced gun violence at school since Columbine, May 24
The New York Times: 78 Long Minutes, May 28

Gun violence, not limited to school shootings, is the leading cause of death for American children:

The New York Times: Texas Massacre Is the Second-Deadliest School Shooting on Record, May 24
Süddeutsche Zeitung: Die amerikanische Tragödie, May 25
The Wall Street Journal: Uvalde School Shooting Is Deadliest After Sandy Hook Slayings, May 26
FlowingData: Deaths by Firearm, Compared Against Injury-Related Deaths, May 25
The Washington Post: Guns killed more young people than cars did for the first time in 2020, May 25

No other rich country comes close to the U.S. in gun violence, and no country on earth has more guns in civilian hands:

The Times: America’s battle with gun violence in maps and charts, May 25
Bloomberg: Gun Violence in the US Far Exceeds Levels in Other Rich Nations, May 27
The New York Times: 19 Murdered Children, May 25

COVID visualizations covered heavy lockdowns in China and a slowing vaccine campaign in South Africa:

Financial Times: How China’s lockdown policies are crippling the country’s economy, May 31
Financial Times: Why Africa’s first Covid vaccine factory struggles to find customers, may 30

And other news from China included diplomacy in the Pacific and a massive leak of documents relating to Beijing’s genocide of the Uyghurs:

Financial Times: Pacific Islanders snub China by rejecting security pact, May 30
El País: Sexo: hombre; edad: entre 20 y 30 años; etnia: uigur. Así es la radiografía de los reclusos en centros de reeducación chinos en Xinjiang, May 24

With Ukraine still at war and unable to export its wheat crop, many countries are facing a food crisis:

Reuters: The war in Ukraine is fuelling a global food crisis, May 30
Tortoise Media: Nightmare of wheat, May 26

Despite their matching colors, only one of these elections really happened. The first is a model from The Washington Post, explaining how their reporters predict election outcomes; the second shows the real results of Colombia’s presidential race:

The Washington Post: How election modeling can help us understand who might win, May 24
El País: Resultado de las elecciones en Colombia por municipio, May 30

A major addition to London’s rail network, the Elizabeth line, began service this week:

Bloomberg: Here’s How Crossrail Will Transform London Travel, May 24
The New Statesman: Can you get Londoners to work on time? Design your own tube network, May 28

Meanwhile, non-electric cars are looking less attractive than ever:

The Washington Post: Summer road trip? Our gas calculator can help you see your costs, May 27
Zeit Online:` So viele E-Autos fahren schon jetzt in Ihrer Region, May 25

Heading into summer, climate topics this week included temperature records, “Overshoot Day,” and wildfire:

The Pudding: Heat Records, May 24
Szabad Európa: Magyarország napokon belül eléri a túlfogyasztási napját, May 27
The Wall Street Journal: Most of U.S. West Is in Severe Drought as Peak Wildfire Season Looms, May 27

And other charts and maps covered everything from the Champions League final to hospital access in Spain to zones of control in Syria:

El País: Crónica visual de la final de la Champions: El Liverpool pone la ofensiva y Vinicius, el gol, May 29
The Wall Street Journal: Summer Worker Shortage Means Things Will Be Closed. Again, May 30
El Diario: Un 10% de la población española tiene que viajar más de dos horas al día si necesita tratarse un cáncer, May 28
The New York Times: How State Abortion Laws Could Change if Roe Is Overturned, May 24
CNN: ‘They were shooting directly at the journalists’: New evidence suggests Shireen Abu Akleh was killed in targeted attack by Israeli forces, May 26
Bloomberg: Turkey’s Rising Anti-Refugee Sentiment Adds to Erdogan’s Challenges, May 27

What else we found interesting

ProPublica: The U.S. Has Spent More Than $2 Billion on a Plan to Save Salmon. The Fish Are Vanishing Anyway, May 24

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!

Profile image of Rose of the Datawrapper team
Rose Mintzer-Sweeney
(@rosemintzers) writes for the blog at Datawrapper. She's here to talk data vis, tell stories, and tweak punctuation. The rest of the time, you can find her exploring new cities and googling the etymology of every word you say. Drop her a line at rose@datawrapper.de.

Comments