Líffræðifélag Íslands - biologia.is
Líffræðiráðstefnan 2021

Erindi/veggspjald / Talk/poster E33

Using Cartograms for Environmental Data Visualisation

Höfundar / Authors: Benjamin D. Hennig

Starfsvettvangur / Affiliations: Háskóli Íslands / University of Iceland

Kynnir / Presenter: Benjamin D. Hennig

Cartograms have been used in human geography and other social sciences as an alternative approach to visualising quantitative data for quite some time. However, in environmental sciences, including ecology, this mapping technique has rarely been used, often also due to its (presumed) limited capabilities of showing more complex datasets. This talk introduces gridded cartograms as an alternative map projection. Gridded cartograms provide unique insights into highly detailed datasets from social as well as environmental sciences. They can also be used to depict correlations between several spatial dimensions in a different way than conventional maps do. While the results are unusual depictions, these techniques have the capability to providing unique new perspectives on our environment and reimagine the complex dimensions that shape our planet. This can be relevant in communicating science to the public as much as increase understanding of the data that we are working with as scientists.