Smart Visualizations which facilitate Map-based Storytelling
- Arpit Shah
- Jun 21, 2020
- 3 min read
Updated: 6 days ago
Children enjoy exploring a globe and discovering new places. Many adults—including me—love browsing Google Maps to plan getaways, explore terrain, or evaluate travel routes. The bottom line is this: maps appeal to the adventure-seeking side in all of us. They communicate information in compelling and intuitive ways.
In this post, I will demonstrate five smart visualization techniques that help communicate more effectively through maps. These methods allow creators to accommodate richer, more varied information than what a regular 2D map can convey—and they deliver the intended message far more powerfully.
SECTION HYPERLINKS
Smart Visualization Techniques for Mapping Datasets
All demonstrations were prepared using Esri's ArcGIS Pro software and training material.
1. FLY-THROUGH ANIMATION
Suppose you want to show an area in its before and after state—such as land conditions pre- and post-afforestation. A Fly-Through Animation offers a third-person, bird’s-eye view of how the landscape evolves over time.
Below is a fly-through of Oso, Washington (USA) after the devastating mudslide of 22 March 2014. The visualization has been rendered in 3D using a Digital Elevation Model (DEM), which makes the scene look far more realistic.
2. TEMPORAL 2D ANIMATION
This technique is invaluable when your dataset spans time. The demonstration below shows a monthly 2D animation of maritime trade routes from England, the Netherlands, and Spain during the year 1770 (The CLIWOC project extracted these ship locations and attributes from historical logbooks).
Such animations reveal insights that static maps simply cannot—for example:
preferred routes of each country,
key docking ports,
shipping frequency patterns,
oceanic navigation behaviour in specific months.
In contrast, the static dataset looks like a jumble of unrecognizable points!
3. TEMPORAL STOP-MOTION 3D ANIMATION
Think of this as the digital equivalent of a flipbook. Stop-motion techniques create an illusion of movement by manipulating objects in small increments across sequential frames.
Continuing from the previous example, let’s focus on a single route: Spain to Puerto Rico. Three journeys took place in 1770. This Stop-Motion 3D Animation helps visualise the exact route and identify which journey was the quickest.
Isn’t this a powerful way to communicate geospatial information?
4. STORYMAPS
StoryMaps are not a "new" visualization technique, but they remain one of the most immersive, interactive ways to share thematic geospatial narratives. They allow creators to combine:
maps
multimedia
narrative text
animations
…into a cohesive storytelling experience.
Do watch this excellent demo: Mapping Mount Everest.
5. MAP DASHBOARDS
Dashboards are incredibly useful for conveying geospatial information—especially in corporate, operational, and project management contexts.
With Dashboard tools, one can build dynamic, web- and mobile-friendly GIS applications. They are fully configurable, meaning stakeholders can be provided role-specific, filtered views of the same underlying data repository.
In this post, you'll find examples of four dashboard types:
Do explore the impressive dashboards featured on Cool Maps—the Migration Trends and Crime Time dashboards are personal favorites.
The video below displays the journey of creating a Dashboard on Esri's ArcGIS platform-
Here’s hoping you found these five visualization techniques useful. 👋
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