Cartograms

Cartogram

— a map showing the distribution of relative indicators (density, intensity of a phenomenon, specific values, etc.) across certain territorial units, most often administrative;

— one of the cartographic representation methods used to show relative statistical data by filling territorial division contours (usually administrative units) with color fills of different tones or hatching of different densities according to accepted interval scales. Automation tools allow building Cartograms in continuous or non-interval scales, where density precisely corresponds to the value of the mapped indicator.

Cartograms can be color-based (filling polygons with different colors), hatched (applying different types of hatching to polygons), and dot-based (filling polygons with arrays of dots of various sizes and densities).

Color cartograms can be gradient or mosaic. The colors of polygons in a color gradient cartogram smoothly change from one color to another depending on the value of the analyzed characteristic. Up to 7 basic colors can be used to create gradient fills. If the gradient is formed using one color, the polygons will be colored in shades of that color (from white to black transitioning through the specified color). In a mosaic cartogram, polygons are colored using randomly selected colors.

Color cartograms can also be created for linear objects. For example, electrified and non-electrified railways can be colored differently. Linear color cartograms can also be used for quick visual assessment of semantic characteristic matches between adjacent objects at the boundary of adjoining map sheets. If contour lines are colored differently according to their "absolute height" characteristic, errors can be quickly identified through visual inspection.

In a hatched cartogram, polygon representations differ through various hatching types, line spacing, and line thickness. In a dot cartogram, polygon representations differ through the size of filling dots and spacing between dots. The type of cartogram to be created (color, hatched, dot) is selected by clicking the corresponding button.