Logo
ScienceStack
Table of Contents
Fetching ...
Sign In

Cartographers in Cubicles: How Training and Preferences of Mapmakers Interplay with Structures and Norms in Not-for-Profit Organizations

Arpit Narechania, Alex Endert, Clio Andris

TL;DR

This paper investigates how trained cartographers in not-for-profit, NGO, and government settings translate cartographic principles into practice when making choropleth maps. Using a qualitative interview study of 16 mapmakers across 13 organizations, it analyzes workflows, data preparation, binning, color choices, and collaboration patterns. Key findings reveal both variation and regularity in decisions, with universal considerations like colorblind accessibility and branding, as well as significant influence from organizational protocols, governance, and even mapmakers' mood. The study offers practical implications for cartographic education and tool design within CSCW and HCI, advocating decision-support systems, better cross-disciplinary collaboration, and inclusive, context-aware mapping approaches.

Abstract

Choropleth maps are a common and effective way to visualize geographic thematic data. Although cartographers have established many principles about map design, data binning and color usage, less is known about how mapmakers make individual decisions in practice. We interview 16 cartographers and geographic information systems (GIS) experts from 13 government organizations, NGOs, and federal agencies about their choropleth mapmaking decisions and workflows. We categorize our findings and report on how mapmakers follow cartographic guidelines and personal rules of thumb, collaborate with other stakeholders within and outside their organization, and how organizational structures and norms are tied to decision-making during data preparation, data analysis, data binning, map styling, and map post-processing. We find several points of variation as well as regularity across mapmakers and organizations and present takeaways to inform cartographic education and practice, including broader implications and opportunities for CSCW, HCI, and information visualization researchers and practitioners.

Cartographers in Cubicles: How Training and Preferences of Mapmakers Interplay with Structures and Norms in Not-for-Profit Organizations

TL;DR

This paper investigates how trained cartographers in not-for-profit, NGO, and government settings translate cartographic principles into practice when making choropleth maps. Using a qualitative interview study of 16 mapmakers across 13 organizations, it analyzes workflows, data preparation, binning, color choices, and collaboration patterns. Key findings reveal both variation and regularity in decisions, with universal considerations like colorblind accessibility and branding, as well as significant influence from organizational protocols, governance, and even mapmakers' mood. The study offers practical implications for cartographic education and tool design within CSCW and HCI, advocating decision-support systems, better cross-disciplinary collaboration, and inclusive, context-aware mapping approaches.

Abstract

Choropleth maps are a common and effective way to visualize geographic thematic data. Although cartographers have established many principles about map design, data binning and color usage, less is known about how mapmakers make individual decisions in practice. We interview 16 cartographers and geographic information systems (GIS) experts from 13 government organizations, NGOs, and federal agencies about their choropleth mapmaking decisions and workflows. We categorize our findings and report on how mapmakers follow cartographic guidelines and personal rules of thumb, collaborate with other stakeholders within and outside their organization, and how organizational structures and norms are tied to decision-making during data preparation, data analysis, data binning, map styling, and map post-processing. We find several points of variation as well as regularity across mapmakers and organizations and present takeaways to inform cartographic education and practice, including broader implications and opportunities for CSCW, HCI, and information visualization researchers and practitioners.

Paper Structure

This paper contains 25 sections, 3 figures, 2 tables.

Table of Contents

  1. Introduction
  2. Related Work
  3. Background on GIS and Cartographic Workflows, Principles, and Tools
  4. Collaboration within and across Organizations
  5. Decision-Making within Organizations
  6. Interviews with Cartographers and GIS Experts
  7. Participants and Organizations
  8. Recruitment and Interviews
  9. Analysis
  10. Choropleth Mapmaking in Government Organizations and NGOs
  11. Notable/Recent Maps, Audience, Purpose, Formats, and Types
  12. Mapping Workflows
  13. Mapping Tools and Libraries
  14. Data Preparation & Analysis: Looking at Data before Mapping
  15. Determining Data Binning Methods
  16. ...and 10 more sections

Figures (3)

  • Figure 1: Choropleth mapmaking workflow and associated tooling and corresponding usage frequency.
  • Figure 2: Frequency of (a) # (number of) Bins, (b) Tools, and (c) Binning Methods most commonly used by our interviewee mapmakers, respectively; if a mapmaker mentioned they used '4--6' bins, we incremented the frequency for # Bins = '4', '5', as well as '6'; if a mapmaker mentioned 'any' (number of) bins, we represent this separately.
  • Figure 3: Small multiples of choropleth maps showing "Life Expectancy" (in years) among U.S. counties cdc2022adultobesitychoropleth across the twelve data binning methods (made using BinGuru narechania2023resiliency and Vega-Lite satyanarayan2016vega).