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Data Vis Dispatch
November 14th, 2023

Data Vis Dispatch, November 14

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

Photo of Vivien Serve
Vivien Serve

Welcome back to the 118th 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 the internet, artificial intelligence, and energy prices.

Let’s start with the second week of the #30DayMapChallenge. Here are our favorites for visual appeal, stunning data, creativity, or just fun — because a smile is worth a lot:

Britt Lonneville: “#30DayMapChallenge – day 14: Europe As one of my favourite profs at uni taught his puzzled freshmen: “Europe does not exist” (because there is no conclusive definition for it) So today let’s look at some official and less official interpretations of what Europe is (not),” November 14 (Tweet)
Ansgar Wolsing: “The vast majority of Canada is sparsely inhabited, with most of its population south of 55 °N. This map shows population density and provides a zoomed-in view of the largest cities,” November 10 (Tweet)
Geomatics CTU: “#Day11: In this app you can look back to the past and compare the historical landscape of the Vltava River valley to the present one,” November 11 (Tweet)

Léa Desrayaud: “Alerte : deux calamités débarquent en Europe, la fourmi électrique et la fourmi de feu. L’occasion de relever “Europe”, le défi 14 du #30DayMapChallenge,” November 14 (Tweet)
Kyle Barron: “County-to-county migration in the U.S.Made in Python with #lonboard. #30DayMapChallenge,” November 10 (Mastodon Post)
Noel Peterson: “#30DayMapChallenge Day 9: ‘Hexagons,'” November 10 (Mastodon Post)
Terence: “#30DayMapChallenge Day 9: Hexagons. Beneath (or bathymetry of) the Atlantic Ocean,” November 9 (Mastodon Post)
Erwan Rivault: “#30DayMapChallenge Day 8: Africa All African rivers mapped by Strahler stream order and coloured by basin,” November 8 (Tweet)

The warfare between Israel and Hamas continues. Maps this week depicted operations by the Israeli army:

The Wall Street Journal: Israel Races to Root Out Hamas as Calls for Gaza Cease-Fire Mount, November 10
Financial Times: Does Israel have a road map for Gaza’s future?, November 10
The Wall Street Journal: U.S. Pushes Back on Israel’s Security Plan in Gaza After War, November 7

Other visualizations provided insights into Gaza’s population:

Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung: Fast die Hälfte der Palästinenser in Gaza sind Kinder, November 10
The Washington Post: Gaza reports more than 11,100 killed. That’s one out of every 200 people, November 13
The Wall Street Journal: ‘We Have No Tears Left’: Sounds and Voices of People Living in Gaza, November 9

The violence is not limited to Gaza, but involves the West Bank and Lebanese border as well:

The New York Times: Maps: Tracking the Attacks in Israel and Gaza, November 10
Le Figaro: Guerre Israël-Hamas : au Sud-Liban, le Hezbollah en embuscade, November 13

The world reacts — two visualizations show worldwide demonstrations on the conflict:

Armed Conflict Location & Event Data Project: “The latest escalation in the Israel-Palestine conflict has triggered a wave of protests and rallies around the world. So far, ACLED has recorded 4,200 demonstration events related to the conflict in 100 countries and territories, accounting for 38% of all demonstrations globally,” November 11 (Tweet)
Reuters: Protests sweep around the globe as Israel’s war in Gaza grinds on, November 13

Even airline routes have been redefined:

Bloomberg: Flights Get Longer as Airlines Are Forced to Skirt War Zones, November 10

Next topic: Energy. How Italian power companies profited from COVID-19 and what your latte has to do with it:

Bloomberg: How Power Companies Profited From Italy’s Covid Lockdown, November 10
The Washington Post: Why does my latte cost so much?, November 10

Water and fire, wet and dry, are recurring topics in this week’s environmental visualizations:

ProPublica: The 20 Farming Families Who Use More Water From the Colorado River Than Some Western States, November 9
Financial Times: ‘Hot mess’ as Earth heads for warmest year on record in 2023, November 8
The New York Times: America’s New Wildfire Risk Goes Beyond Forests, November 9

But not only meadows and forests burn — here are two dramatic incidents in cities:

The New York Times: Deadly Fire in Africa’s Richest City Exposed a Secret in Plain Sight, November 11
Reuters: Explainer: Why is South Asia the global hotspot of pollution?, November 13

Dramatic cut to an emotionally dramatic topic: internet speed and bandwidth:

The Washington Post: Slow internet speeds? It might be faster to use a pigeon, November 10
European Union Institute for Security Studies: Africa Atlas, November 8

And from the internet, we move on to artificial intelligence and the burning question, “Will it take our jobs?”:

SBS News: AI로 만든 커버곡, 문제없을까?, November 9
Financial Times: Here’s what we know about generative AI’s impact on white-collar work, November 10

Even though the U.S. presidential election is still almost a year away, this week’s political charts focused a lot on Donald Trump:

The Wall Street Journal: Why Third-Party Candidates Threaten Biden in 2024, November 10
Bloomberg: Trump’s Wealth Has Jumped $500 Million Since He Left the White House, November 7

We also came across multiple political timeline charts:

Gazeta Wyborcza: Marek Sawicki – najmłodszy senior wśród marszałków Sejmu, November 8
Le Monde: Avec dix-sept recours en dix-huit mois, le gouvernement Borne banalise l’article 49.3, November 13
Financial Times: Is this the age of churn in UK politics?, November 12

Other maps this week covered Chinese ports and Icelandic earthquakes:

The Washington Post: “A decade after announcing the Maritime Silk Road, China now owns or operates nearly 100 ports and terminals along some of the world’s most strategic waterways. A journey along this sea route illustrates some of the advantages of China’s port investments,” November 10 (Tweet, Article)
Robert Hodgin: “Intense seismicity on the Reykjanes Peninsula. Here is a visualization of the last 40 days of Earthquakes in the region,” November 11 (Tweet)

And finally, the miscellaneous charts section again includes Taylor Swift (we’re not looking for her on purpose, we promise), as well as school shootings, aid to Ukraine, sports investment in the Middle East, and bicycles in Paris:

Folha de S.Paulo: Taylor Swift é mais dançante que Beatles? Entenda as músicas da turnê da cantora, November 13
The Economist: Inside a month of America’s school shootings, November 13
Visual Capitalist: Visualizing $233B in Ukraine Aid, November 12
The Washington Post: The Middle East’s play to rule global sports, November 7
Le Monde: A Paris, la fréquentation des pistes cyclables a doublé en un an, November 11

What else we found interesting

Julien Sulpis: “Little update on my #GLSL planet shader: I borrowed and adapted a few textures from the @NASA to display our home planet It’s made with ~12kB of code and should be smooth on most devices. Next steps: find more textures to display other planets,” November 8 (Tweet)
Nexo Jornal: Um guia para entender a reforma tributária visualmente, November 10
The New York Times: The Tunnels of Gaza, November 10

Applications are open for…

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Photo of 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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