Mapping the News

I spoke today at the New York City Arc Users Symposium about how The Times graphics department uses maps to explain the news and help readers better understand what’s happening in the world around them.

I’ve posted the slides from my presentation as a PDF. The interactives for each section of the presentation are below.

Explain the Geography

Reveal Patterns

Provide Context

Describe Processes

Report and Research

What’s the Story?

Sketch with Data

Experiment with Forms

When Maps Shouldn’t Be Maps

Data + Story > Story

The Information is What’s Important

Engage the User

3 comments on “Mapping the News

  1. Melissa Chow

    Thanks for sharing the nytimes perspective on mapping/carto/graphics this morning. As someone with an educational and professional background in [socio-economic] geography, GIS, stats, planning, & transport, I often find myself discussing the ‘maps’ and graphics that the nytimes creates with former classmates….we are most often discussing whether the maps/graphics make any sense in relation to the articles, whether they properly show the data, how they came to be, etc. It’s good to hear about how the thought process works from within the organization.

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