Datawrapper, perhaps the web’s most intuitive third party infographic generator, is moving into the mapping business.
When the German site recruited developer Gregor Aisch from Kartograph maps in 2012, it began in earnest its attempt to create a straightforward map generator.
Datawrapper Maps launched in December 2013 but remains in the beta stage, with some kinks still to be worked out. “We are adding a very simple and fast way to create and publish maps,” the Datawrapper blog announced just before Christmas ’13.
And simple and fast it is. Datawrapper Maps, unlike CartoDB or even Tableau, does not require a hand-holding tutorial process. Like its charts and graphs, DW’s maps is idiot-proof.
Here’s a run through using the provided sample data Urban Population and Other Country Metrics.
You just need to copy and paste your spreadsheet data into the Upload Data stage which kicks off the whole process.
Datawrapper will then place it in a spreadsheet of its own, that you can cast an eye over before visualisation. Unique to the mapping function of Datawrapper is the necessity of a geocode – in this case, both the three letter country code and continent code.
As it is in beta phase, Datawrapper Maps currently only has a few available templates: the world and five of its continents. I imagine they’ll be soon be producing an Asia template , and more specific territories at some later point.
Here’s what the map looks like when you click visualise:
It’s all wrong. The countries have been coloured by continent, not by the other, more pertinent data provided – population, fertility rate, education, internet users.
And, unlike DW’s bar graphs, there is no selection function on the upper-left hand corner of the map. Instead you’ll have to change the parameters a little more manually. Go into Refine the Chart and muck around with the data column.
So that’s what the map looks like with Internet Users as the primary variable.
Datawrapper Maps are so very easy, and they certainly are pretty as well. But if you want to customise, you want more autonomy, or you have some wicked map skills you want to deploy then other programmes may be more to your liking. That said, if you like quick and dirty infographics then Datawrapper is the best around. And, for the uninitiated, it’s an absolute must.