Kaiser Fung writes:
Dona Wong, whose graphics book I reviewed two years ago (link), has recently joined the New York Fed to lead an effort to visualize data. This is exciting because consumers are unlikely to learn anything from Excel spreadsheets, HTML tables, etc. which are the typical formats of public data.
One of their efforts is visualization of mortgage delinquency data in the Tri-state and Long Island regions (link). This animation reminds me of the CDC obesity map, to which I gave a positive review in 2005 (link). This type of chart is great for revealing the evolution of a metric over time and over space. The sliding control is a very nice extra touch. This allows readers to freeze-frame the map and examine the details.
Kaiser walks the reader through his suggestions on improving the visualizations in question. It is one thing for someone to dislike a graphic. Quite another (and useful) to have someone explore what does or doesn’t work. And why?
Enjoy!