Welcome

So what's a cartogram, well Wikipedia describes it as:


"A cartogram is a map in which some thematic mapping variable – such as travel time or Gross National Product – is substituted for land area. The geometry or space of the map is distorted in order to convey the information of this alternate variable."


Which is a pretty good description as it goes, but what I really like is their artistic nature.  Maps have always held some fascination for me, I have worked in Geographic Information for 15 years, and have worked with all kinds of maps showing a wide range of information , but it was a recent stumble upon WorldMapper (http://www.worldmapper.org/) that sparked my interest in Cartograms and more importantly their artistic qualities.


So what's this blog about, well cartograms quite obviously, but also my attempts to create them at smaller levels of geography and about subjects that interest me and might interest you.  Given that a general election in the UK has been announced only a few days ago I thought that I might look at voting patters in the UK for past elections and attempt to see what light cartograms can bring to the party.


I'll post again in a few days.