What It Shows
This interactive infographic lets you visually explore race, ethnicity, income, home value, and education level – census data, basically – across block of every city in the US. Seriously. Color-coded for easy big picture, mouse over a given block for its data.
Why It’s Good
I love this infographic. It’s so so simple as a concept, but it opens up exploration as large as a country. The interface is good overall, but what impresses me most is how fast and smooth the experience is.
It’s weird, it’s obvious that many areas are more one particular race than another, but seeing it bird’s eye like this makes me uncomfortable. The segregation hits deeper, to me.
What It’s Missing
I would have thought switching maps would have involved a bigger button. It’s very easy to get roped into the current map and not thing there’s more, partly because it’s so impressive. I know it’s not exactly hidden, but I would have liked it to have been a little more obvious. Small criticism.
Also, when within a subcategory (for example “Households Earning Over $200,000″) it would be nice to be able to access the others in the same subcategory (household income maps) with one click. You currently have to click the View More Maps button first.
Ok, someone do this for the whole planet please. Thanks.
This great infographic is available at the New York Times.
