The Visualization of Spatial Social Structure

Daniel Dorling, Professor of Human Geography in the University of Sheffield, UK Also Adjunct Professor in the Department of Geography, University of Canterbury, New Zealand and Visiting Professor in the Department of Social Medicine, University Bristol, UK. Daniel Dorling's research tries to show how far understanding the patterns to people's lives can be enhanced using statistics about the population. Part of this research involves developing new techniques to analyse and popularise quantitative information about human geography, in particular introducing the use of novel cartographic techniques into geographical research. In 2006, Daniel started working with a group of researchers on a project to remap the world (www.worldmapper.com). Respected in academia as a leader in his field, a Google search on his name also reveals how prevalent his voice is within the mainstream media. Daniel Dorling has published over 25 books and 400 papers. He is Honorary President of the Society of Cartographers.

List of figures xi List of text boxes xxi

Preface xxiii

Introduction: Human cartography xxxv

1 Envisioning information 1
1.1 Visual thinking 1
1.2 Pictures over time 4
1.3 Beyond illustration 11
1.4 Texture and colour 13
1.5 Perspective and detail 16
1.6 Pattern and illusion 20
1.7 From mind to mind 24

2 People, spaces and places 31
2.1 Which people? 31
2.2 Why study places? 34
2.3 What are spaces? 40
2.4 Drawing lines 41
2.5 Picturing points 50
2.6 Population space 52
2.7 Adding time 56

3 Artificial reality 59
3.1 Imagining reality 59
3.2 Abstract spaces 60
3.3 Area cartograms 66
3.4 The nature of space 69
3.5 Producing illusions 77
3.6 Population space 81
3.7 Stretching spacetime 85

4 Honeycomb structure 95
4.1 Viewing society 95
4.2 Who the people are 97
4.3 Disparate origins 106
4.4 Lost opportunities 109
4.5 Work, industry and home 114
4.6 How people vote 120
4.7 The social landscape 123

5 Transforming the mosaic 131
5.1 Still images of change 131
5.2 Forming the structure 132
5.3 Structure transformed 136
5.4 Variable employment 138
5.5 House price inflation 143
5.6 Reshaping votes 148
5.7 Erosion and deposition 159

6 Cobweb of flows 167
6.1 What flow is 167
6.2 What flows there are 168
6.3 Unravelling the tangles 171
6.4 Drawing the vortices 177
6.5 Commuting chaos 184
6.6 Migration networks 185
6.7 A space of flows 194

7 On the surface 199
7.1 2D vision, 3D world 199
7.2 Surface definition 202
7.3 Depth cues 209
7.4 Landscape painting 210
7.5 Surface geometry 213
7.6 Travel time surface 220
7.7 Surface value 222

8 The wood and the trees 225
8.1 Sculptured characters 225
8.2 Circles, pies and rings 227
8.3 Bars and pyramids 230
8.4 Flocks of arrows 237
8.5 Trees and castles 238
8.6 Crowds of faces 239
8.7 Information overload 243

9 Volume visualization 251
9.1 The third dimension 251
9.2 Spaces, times and places 252
9.3 Spacetime continuum 259
9.4 Three-dimensional graphs 262
9.5 Flows through time 275
9.6 Volume rendering 279
9.7 Interactive visualization 280

10 Conclusion: Another geography 283

Endnote 297

Acknowledgements 299

Appendix: Drawing faces 301

References 305

Author Index 317

Subject Index 321

Note. The original thesis from which this book was derived had a further six appendices and a larger bibliography. Some can be found at www.dannydorling.org.
Appendix A: Circular Cartogram Algorithm
Appendix B: Parliamentary Constituencies 1955–1987 Continuity
Appendix C: Parliamentary Constituencies 1955–1987 Results
Appendix D: Average Housing Price by Constituency 1983–1989
Appendix E: Scottish Ward to Postcode Sector Look-up Table
Appendix F: Local Government Wards, 1981 and 1987