DJH in Action: Map Mashups

Last year I received a free copy of the The Digital Journalist’s Handbook by Mark S. Luckie through a Twitter contest (I was the first to respond with the meaning of HTML — hypertext markup language FTW). It’s a great guide for student journalists or those who are interested in branching out into new mediums like audio, video, programming and Flash. It also has some good information on social media, blogging, social media optimization — basically a crash course for digital journalists.

The book is more informational than instructional, meaning you won’t walk away knowing exactly how to write a program to analyze data or be able to make an infographic in Flash. In actuality, a book that could provide those results would have to be about 10 textbooks in one, but the Digital Journalist’s Handbook is a good primer and a great launching off point, providing some ideas for presenting information and stories in new ways.

One of the ideas presented in the Digital Journalist’s Handbook is what’s called a map mashup, or the use of a map to display information. Something as simple as a map color-coded with “red” and “blue” states would qualify, but they can also be useful to visualize crime statistics, census data and other information.

Below are a few examples of how I’ve used map mashups in my own stories through my work at The Record. These visualizations are meant to accompany a story, but more advanced map mashups could very well stand alone. These maps were created using Google Maps, which has a stunningly-easy interface that most people can pick up right away. There’s also a handy video tutorial if you need some extra help.

This first map, the most recent, accompanied a simple story about a high-speed chase that led police through a pretty wide area. Describing the path of the driver in print can end up muddy or confusing to the reader — this is a perfect example of how a map mashup can be used to display geographical information.

View High-speed Chase Route in a larger map

This second map not only displays location-based information, but also includes photos to enhance the presentation. There are a lot of great integration tools in Google Maps, and for those more programming-oriented, map mashups made in other programs like Flash could also incorporate links or videos.

View Painted Boards Project in a larger map

Have you used map mashups in your work, or do you have any suggestions for other programs? Share them in the comments.

Tags: digital journalism, infographic, maps