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Pictorial bubble map

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Pictorial bubble map
Pictorial bubble map showing numbers of web-service users by country. The number of headsets shows the number of users, and the colour of the headsets distinguishes between active and inactive users.
Visual types
Level of expertise
  • None
Interactive features
None
Benefits & pitfalls to avoid
  • When using colours to portray data values or types, ensure that the colors used are accessible to all users. Online tools such as ColorBrewer (www.colorbrewer.org) can help identify issues with colours used.
  • Using pictures to show data values can be misleading, where different images have different areas or volumes. Wider images can lead users to think that the data values are larger, even where height is the only dimension used to represent data values.
Create your own
  • Bubble maps can be created in a range of desktop GIS applications such as MapInfo and ArcGIS.
  • Pictorial versions of standard charts can be created in a range of standard data applications such as Excel For example in Excel, setup the chart and 'Format data series -> Fill' with Pattern or texture fill, and select a file image to use as a pictorial (you'll need to have setup the image first).