Infographics: a Method for Cartography Display and Presentation

Making maps, to present and display to others, is all well and good, but what of the context for the map's thematic content?  Presenting information to an audience with a comprehensive understanding of the map's content, perhaps in the form of a presentation, can render the map itself a supporting visual aid.  It is when the map stands alone, and is meant to be viewed and interpreted as a stand-alone visual, that the "infographic" can be an indispensable tool.  Infographics add information that can be integral to understanding a thematic map's purpose, and can lend support to the map as an educational or explanatory visual.  Though this information is, by necessity, often simplified and graphically embellished, it's a valuable tool for presentation nonetheless.  

Above is a visual intended to convey the seriousness of the possible link between increasing rates of drug poisoning mortality and rates of uninsured adults.  This is, by no means, extensive or scholarly research, but is rather intended to raise a question of whether this is an issue that may require more investigation.  The maps, on the left, give an abridged picture of what the geographic distribution of the two factors- rates of drug poisoning mortality and percent of uninsured adults- currently looks like. The darker colored counties that are displayed as such in both maps are locations where prevalence of both factors is increased, which, as the other supporting graphics indicate, may be cause for some concern.  The two charts on the right, a scatterplot showing the general relationship between the two variables, and a bar chart of where the five states with the highest percent of uninsured adults fall in relation to drug poisoning mortality average, summarize some of the quantifiable relationships immediately evident in the data.  The graphics in the center give a few statistics that may support the contention that the relationship between the two variables is serious enough to warrant further investigation.  The infographic, as a whole, sometimes tells more of a story than a map, displayed on its own, is capable of.