Map O' The Day #43 - Donald Duck Family Tree

In the spirit of Friday fun, here is a more lighthearted MOTD, focused around the loveable Donald Duck. One of the most popular of the Disney cartoon characters, Donald Duck made his debut in the Silly Symphony cartoon "The Wise Little Hen" on June 9, 1934. His fiery temper endeared him to audiences, and in the 1940s he surpassed Mickey Mouse in the number of cartoons reaching the theaters. Eventually, there were 128 Donald Duck cartoons, but he also appeared in a number of others with Mickey Mouse, Goofy, and Pluto. His middle name, shown in a wartime cartoon, is Fauntleroy.

This map was created by Gilles Maurice for a group of Disney researchers, Calisota Online. You can find more character family trees or check out maps of their universe and environment at, http://goofy313g.free.fr/calisota_online/

Map O' The Day #42 - User Experience, A System Simplified

This great chart by Dan Saffer that identifies and describes the relationships between various design disciplines.

Decently self explanatory!

Map O’ the Day #41 – A Year In Iraq

Think what you will of the New York Times, but the paper is without a doubt known for putting together compelling Info graphics which display data sets in a visually stimulating manner. Authored by Adriana Lins De Albuquerque & Alicia Chen, this image is no exception for the publication, as their portrayal of casualties during 2007 in all of Iraq masterfully shows the gruesome realities of war. The Times utilizes both color, figure type, and figure quantity to display the known data sets.

One should be somewhat leery when drawing insights from a map such as this, as often times authors of both info graphics and maps will choose to use scale, selection and representation in an effort to aim the viewer towards a specific conclusion or view. I’m not sure that I see a blatant statistical misrepresentation in this case, but without cross referencing the original data with the Times representation, it’s quite difficult to be sure of it’s objectivity.

In any event, this graphic is worth scanning for some undeniable trends in the reported data, such as the large amount of Iraqi police officers killed by hostile forces, namely, other Iraqis and foreign terrorists.

[I apologize for the resolution when viewing the comprehensive graphic, but zooming in provides an enhancement]

Map O' The Day #40 - The Land of Greendale

Today’s MOTD is a personal favorite – a map of the fictitious land of Greendale from the album cover art for Neil Young’s Greendale. Illustrated by James Mazzeo, who also illustrated the cover of Young’s Zuma, the map illustrates the backdrop for the rock opera album, centered on the adventures and trials of the Green family.

Just as web 2.0 has morphed the liner notes of yesterday’s record into downloadable songbooks and bonus features that accompany the digital album, the Greendale map takes interactivity to a whole new level. The album has its very own website where you can scroll over the map to enlarge certain details relevant to the songs.

It is becoming increasingly popular to make use of technology to enhance the depth of information and degree of interactivity on once static visual information maps.