Creating Hex Maps for India

My talk is about visualizing geography, India's states in particular. I want to re-introduce maps where they assign equal visual space to each state.

I want people to explore how creating and using alternative map designs, they can challenge some visual biases that they may unknowingly hold. By giving each state equal visual weight, I am challenging the viewer to engage with the underlying data rather than subconsciously ignoring trends in smaller states, particularly the NE region.

This matters to me because states which perform really well in a policy arena get left out when they are visualized by performance. When this data, such as school enrollment rates, or health outcomes are mapped using traditional maps, there are some times when small states don't get the attention they deserve- their success stories can disappear in plain sight.

The talk will be structured in 4 parts.

First I will visually unpack the bias we hold, I'll do this by showing important data and how small states end up in our blind spots.

Next, I will talk about how I approached this problem. Why I chose Hexagons, How I assigned them positions on an imaginary grid. Walk them through the construction process, which is largely non-digital, and the trade-offs I had to make between geography and design. This process was very manual and hands on and involved cutting physical hexagons and lots of trial and error.

Next, I will talk about creating a python function and turning it into a streamlit website to encode these into a visualization and how one can patch data to this function to create their own maps.

Finally, I will end with examples and cases where this map could be preferred over the traditional one and also when it probably won't be the best choice to visualize state data.

The intended audience for this project are likely college-going data enthusiasts who are looking to expand how they can viz tools which are relevant, and how they can turn simple visualization functions into easy-to-use websites.