From Data to Narratives: Scrutinising the Spatial Dimensions of Social and Cultural Phenomena Through Lenses of Interactive Web Mapping
Tian Lan; Oliver O’Brien; James Cheshire; Alex Singleton; Paul Longley (2022). Journal of Geovisualization and Spatial Analysis, 6(2). DOI: 10.1007/s41651-022-00117-x
Abstract
Modern web mapping techniques have enhanced the storytelling capability of cartography. In this paper, we present our recent development of a web mapping facility that can be used to extract interesting stories and unique insights from a diverse range of socio-economic and demographic variables and indicators, derived from a variety of datasets. We then use three curated narratives to show that online maps are effective ways of interactive storytelling and visualisation, which allow users to tailor their own story maps. We discuss the reasons for the revival of the recent attention to narrative mapping and conclude that our interactive web mapping facility powered by data assets can be employed as an accessible and powerful toolkit, to identify geographic patterns of various social and economic phenomena by social scientists, journalists, policymakers, and the public.
Extended Summary
This research presents the development and application of an interactive web mapping platform designed to transform socio-economic and demographic data into compelling geographical narratives. The study introduces CDRC Mapmaker, a replacement for the Consumer Data Research Centre’s previous mapping system, which utilises modern web technologies including vector tiling, responsive design, and cloud-based data storage to create more accessible and powerful mapping tools. The platform draws upon diverse datasets including the Linked Consumer Registers (containing 885 million records from 1997-2021), official census data, deprivation indices, and consumer datasets to create thematic maps across five broad categories: Population and Mobility, Retail Futures, Finance and Economy, Digital, and Transport and Movement. Three case studies demonstrate the platform’s narrative capabilities through interactive storytelling. The neighbourhood deprivation analysis examines changes in Multiple Deprivation Index rankings between 2015-2019, revealing stark contrasts in areas like Cliftonville, Margate, where neighbouring districts showed opposite trends in relative deprivation. The internet usage and digital exclusion study maps broadband availability and the Internet User Classification, identifying ‘Silver Towns’ like Blackpool and Christchurch with high proportions of digitally excluded communities, contrasting with digitally engaged areas like Oxford. The residential movement and ethnicity analysis tracks Bangladeshi population distributions in London from 1997-2020, showing dispersal from traditional concentrations in Tower Hamlets to outer boroughs like Redbridge and Barking, likely connected to urban regeneration and gentrification processes. Technical innovations include urban/building mask layers that address misleading impressions in traditional choropleth maps, attribute filtration capabilities, and PDF export functions for creating reports and storyboards. The platform operates entirely through third-party services including GitHub for code storage, cloud hosting, and the CARTO data platform, eliminating infrastructure maintenance requirements whilst enabling automatic scaling during high-traffic periods. The research argues that narrative cartography has experienced renewed attention due to three factors: the growth of computational social science, increased accessibility of spatially-referenced datasets, and significant advances in digital mapping technologies. However, the study acknowledges important caveats regarding data provenance and the potential for misleading representations, emphasising the importance of providing underlying data for reproducibility. The work demonstrates how interactive web mapping can effectively extract insights from diverse social and cultural datasets, making complex geographical patterns accessible to researchers, policymakers, journalists, and the general public for identifying social issues and informing evidence-based interventions.
Key Findings
- CDRC Mapmaker utilises vector tiling and cloud-based architecture to create responsive, scalable web mapping without requiring dedicated infrastructure maintenance.
- Case studies reveal stark geographical inequalities including digital exclusion in coastal ‘Silver Towns’ and changing ethnic residential patterns in London.
- Urban/building mask layers and attribute filtration capabilities address traditional choropleth mapping limitations whilst enabling customised geographical narratives.
- Interactive web mapping effectively transforms complex socio-economic datasets into accessible visual stories for diverse user communities including researchers and policymakers.
- Narrative cartography revival stems from computational social science growth, increased spatial data availability, and advanced digital mapping technologies.
Citation
@article{lan2022from,
author = {Tian Lan; Oliver O’Brien; James Cheshire; Alex Singleton; Paul Longley},
title = {From Data to Narratives: Scrutinising the Spatial Dimensions of Social and Cultural Phenomena Through Lenses of Interactive Web Mapping},
journal = {Journal of Geovisualization and Spatial Analysis},
year = {2022},
volume = {6(2)},
doi = {10.1007/s41651-022-00117-x}
}