Area cartogramsare used for visualizing geographically distributed data by attaching measurementsto regions of a map and scaling the regions such that their areasare proportional to the measuredquantities. A continuous areacartogramis a cartogram that is constructedwithout changing the underlying map topology. Wepresenta new algorithm for the construction of continuous area cartograms that was developed by viewing their construction as a constrained optimization problem. The algorithm usesa relaxation method that exploits hierarchical resolution, constraineddynamics,and a schemethat alternatesgoals of achieving correct region areasand adjusting region shapes. It is comparedfavorably to existing methodsin its ability to preserve region shaperecognition cues, while still achieving high accuracy.
Donald H. House, Christopher J. Kocmoud