Stuff and MapSense

Larry Sabato of UVa has posted these political maps. In the first one, the all gray map, the counties of Virginia have been redrawn according to population. It is in this sense a form of a contiguous cartogram. I think it is a great map because it has the ability of a cartogram to show the relationships within the data that a "regular" map doesn't show. The strength of this particular cartogram is that the shape of Virginia itself has not been altered. I am not sure anyone living in Virginia is terribly sensitive to shape of the counties - they are all so irregular - therefore the information of potential voting power pops right out of the presentation.

The second map, which appears on top, is colorized to highlight regions. This further emphasizes the population size of the areas like Richmond and Northern Virginia.