I am not an expert on maps or anything, I just like maps and occasionally create maps as a hobby.

I must say that the mapping technique (Value-by-Alpha Map) that I read about here is very interesting.

However I would like to point out one suggestion. The map (2008 US elections) shows only 2 aspects out of 3, which I think are the most important here.

The aspects shown on the map are obviously the winning party (represented by red or blue) and the population of the county (represented by the brightness of the color).

A 3rd, and important aspect which I think is omitted is the amount of votes for each party.
I mean, it’s not the same to label as blue or red a 51% vs 49% win and also a 95% vs 5% win.

This aspect could be shown on the map by gradients between 100 percent blue and 100 percent red instead of just plain red or blue.

For example if blue had 75% and red 25% then it would be a shade of purple, closer to blue than to red. This color would then be affected by the population layer, which would change its brightness.

It would be interesting to see if such a map is easier to read and understand or it’s just too cluttered and therefore hard to read.

Of course there might be other factors, such as only a fraction of the population of a county voted, which might be taken into account.

What do you think?

This would be similar to scrapping all aeronautic understanding because we invented the rocket.

If every new innovation became the grounds for total displacement of its foundation simply because it was newer, we’d never get past the first innovation. Cartographic principles and best practices are a major, foundational factor in most modern mapping, and where it isn’t… it’s obvious. Cartography gives modern mappers the language and intellectual tools to make their innovations work.
While there is a lot of interesting and even groundbreaking work going on in geo visualization today, there wouldn’t be any of it without cartography and it won’t progress in any meaningful way without it either.

I agree with Ed on one point, modern cartography courses, especially those attached to GIS programs desperately need updating. They are usually over narrow and don’t reflect the broader understanding of geography, people & place dynamics or visual information design that modern cartography actually practices. Cartographer is a word that even as it gains some greater exposure in our society is losing its meaning in the sense that few outside the profession understand exactly what it does and how it contributes to things they see and interact with every day.

User-centered design & evaluation is an essential part of all contemporary academic work in geographic visualization (since the late 90’s) – whether or not this has trickled down yet to gov’t mapping orgs and the like is debatable.