Geographic Enterprises, LLC » Kent Hargesheimer

Heat Mapping Federal Spending

Kent Hargesheimer — Thu, 11 Feb 2010 22:47:21 +0000

This is a bit off subject, but interesting nontheless.

Check out this article & heat maps of the Federal Budget on the Atlantic Monthly website. Although they are not geographic maps, this technique (now commonly used to show stock market valuation changes by industry segment or company) is a great way of visualizing this data to make the point of how big entitlements have gotten and what changes are proposed in the new budget.

The interactive version of the heat map is on the New York Times site. Quickly switching back and forth between 2010 & 2011, you can see how segments of the budget expand & contract year-to-year. One of the most drastic changes is the $63 Billion increase in the Net Interest paid on our debt from $188 Billion in 2010 to $251 Billion in 2011. That is a 33.5% increase in one year. Ouch!

Stay grounded,

Kent

Animated Unemployment Trend Map

Kent Hargesheimer — Fri, 29 Jan 2010 16:49:06 +0000

Take a look at this animated trend map from Latoya Egwuekwe, a graduate student at American University. It is also available on YouTube here. CNN did a story on it.

Latoya’s map shows how the unemployment rate has changed over the past several years by month, through November 2009. When you get to the map, click the arrow in the middle and watch how things changed. Incredible what “The Great Recession” has done. The old saying, “A picture is worth a thousand words” is never more true than looking at this map. Viewing it only takes a few seconds.

The darker the color, the higher the unemployment. 2009 has been BRUTAL, and any reversal in the trend is not apparent. The current national unemployment map as of the December figure is now at 9.7%.

Here is a chart from Google with the same data as a single line. Click through on the chart below to get the chart by state and county for where you are.

Free 2010 Area Code Reference Map

Kent Hargesheimer — Wed, 30 Dec 2009 18:03:15 +0000

Working with our partners at Cartifact, we have put together a Free Area Code Reference Map. Ever since getting Caller ID more than a decade ago, unknown area codes have always sparked the thought “Who and where is that?” This map and index answer that question in a quick glance.

By the way, if you are not aware of Cartifact, you should be. They are THE premier provider of cartographic services in North America, true artisans in a trade which is now dominated by software automation for use by the untrained. Producing large quantities of maps has become really easy. Producing elegant and intuitive maps is still an art and is quite rare these days.

We are offering this map free to promote Research360 and GeoPrinter large format map printing services. Please let us know what you think.

Stay grounded,

- Kent

Announcing the Launch of the Common Ground Blog

Kent Hargesheimer — Sat, 28 Nov 2009 17:50:05 +0000

Here at Geographic Enterprises, we talk about how geography as literally being the ‘common ground’ for understanding our world, so we thought this would be an appropriate name for our blog. We are new at blogging, so please bear with us. We want to make this beneficial to the community.

Let us know what you think and feel free to share your suggestions and ideas for our blog, our company, and enhancements to any of the products and services we offer. Thank you for your interest.

Stay grounded,

- Kent