A typical map provides geographic information. When you color it in or otherwise mark up the map to show something like election results, you get a visual impact that can be heavily skewed. Tortilla Flat with its 13 voters looks massive next to Dixileta with almost 6400 voters.
A Cartogram presents the information with objects that are sized to represent the data being presented. The objects are juxtaposed to general physical relationships. Here are the precincts of LD3 sized to show where our Dem Leaning voters are. On the Cartogram, Tortilla Flat disappears and Dixileta is big. Dixileta has more voters than any LD3 precinct, but Westworld in McDowell Mountain Ranch has more Dem Leaning voters.
Cartograms are handy for strategic planning and for quickly showing the results of an election. Click to explore a larger version of this image.
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