Choropleth map
A choropleth map is a map visualization that represents data values for geographic regions using varying colors or shades.
Everyday Data Visualization
A map visualization that encodes data values for geographic regions using varying colors or shades.
- How it is used
- Uses filled geographic regions and color to encode values, especially when the measured subject concerns land itself.
- How deep it goes
- Defines the technique and demonstrates its land-area distortion, but stops short of implementation details or a complete alternative-method comparison.
- Examples
- Uses 2016 US presidential election county maps, land-use categories, circle maps, density maps, and hexbin maps.
- What you can do after
- Evaluate whether geographic area will distort interpretation before choosing a choropleth for data visualization.
Read how Everyday Data Visualization explains choropleth map →
D3.js in Action, Third Edition
A choropleth map is a map that encodes data values by varying the color of defined geographic regions.
- How it is used
- Compares statistical data across countries or other defined geographic regions through color.
- How deep it goes
- Explains scale selection, domain capping, data enrichment, conditional fills, and tooltips, but not geographic projection internals.
- Examples
- Uses countries’ Nobel-laureate counts, YlGnBu coloring, country paths, and exact-count tooltips.
- What you can do after
- Build it with D3 by enriching geographic features, applying a sequential scale, rendering paths, and adding tooltips.
Read how D3.js in Action, Third Edition explains choropleth map →
Related concepts
- density mapalternative to · A dot-density map is a geographical map that represents the concentration or distribution of a value within areas using dots.
- color scaleuses · A color scale is a mapping from data values or categories to colors, often arranged as a continuous gradient or discrete set for visual representation.
- bubble mapalternative to · A map that represents locations with bubbles whose sizes encode quantitative values.
- mapkind of · A map is a visual representation of geographic features or other spatially located entities and their locations, relationships, or attributes.
- tooltipuses · A tooltip is a transient interface label that displays brief contextual information near an associated element during interaction.
These guides are generated from the text of Manning books by Manning's knowledge graph and link to the sections they draw on. The full books are available on liveBook and at manning.com.