Reimagining Political Campaigns with our Election Mapping Webinar

How can media outlets provide viewers and subscribers with more context on the 2016 U.S. Presidential election? CARTO knows the value of context and you will too after watching our Election Mapping Webinar.

Context comes in many forms however and with our Election Mapping Webinar you will learn how CARTO Builder adds value to content with geographical context. Interactive data visualizations such as the Google Trends visualization representing Google searches of each candidate over an eleven week period allow users to locate nationally each candidate’s impact. During our webinar we will introduce you to CARTO features that allow you to create your own election maps.

Providing an Overview

Visualizations such as the Daily Mail's map of top searched political party leaders during the 2015 UK election season convey a visual overview of a dataset's raw material. Instead of tables and charts full of numerical figures and statistics the Daily Mail's data visualization employs a category map depicting the most searched for politician in each city and town throughout the UK.

Users interested in mapping rates percentages and proportions from normalized data would want to employ a choropleth map. Choropleth maps often use a color palette with lighter and darker hues to signal differences.

Zoom and Filter

Choropleth maps are popular for an overview but because they do not account for the characteristics of an aerial surface (bodies of water mountain ranges etc.) users are often left with a false sense of aerial distribution. To ensure a more accurate representation of your data accounting for geographical specificities users can begin to "zoom and filter" with a dasymetric map.

VillaWeb a newspaper in Barcelona used a dasymetric map to visualize municipal elections results in 2015. Like a choropleth map VillaWeb’s interactive map represents percentage rates for each party throughout the city with a color palette. Unlike a choropleth map this dasymetric map acknowledges Barcelona's non-residential areas (parks bodies of water etc.).

We know determining when to use a choropleth map versus a dasymetric map is tricky so we are sharing our recent Election Mapping Webinar with you today!

Details on Demand

Well-seasoned geospatial explorers examining both percentage rates and raw data will want to use a dot density map. The Chicago Sun Times visualized the 2015 mayoral runoff election results with a dot density map. Each dot is a proportional symbol that attaches data to a specific geographical location shows individual voters as well as the volume of voters of each candidate precinct by precinct. Users demanding even more details can click on any given dot to discover demographic information for each voter provided by the Chicago Election Board.

Our Election Mapping Webinar teaches users of any level new ways to engage in elections which may help provide context to the 2016 US Presidential election by shifting away from journalist-centered news to data journalism.

Happy Election Mapping!