Abstract
In [26], the first two authors of this paper presented the first algorithms
to construct rectangular cartograms. The first step is to determine a representation
of all regions by rectangles and the second—most important—step is to get the areas
of all rectangles correct. This paper presents a new approach to the second step.
It is based on alternatingly solving linear programs on the x-coordinates and the
y-coordinates of the sides of the rectangles. Our algorithm gives cartograms with
considerably lower error and better visual qualities than previous approaches. It
also handles countries that cannot be present in any purely rectangular cartogram
and it introduces a new way of controlling incorrect adjacencies of countries. Our
implementation computes aesthetically pleasing rectangular and nearly rectangular
cartograms, for instance depicting the 152 countries of the World that have population
over one million.
Original language | English |
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Title of host publication | Progress in Spatial Data Handling (Proceedings 12th International Symposium, SDH'06, Vienna, Austria, July 12-14, 2006) |
Editors | A. Riedl, W. Kainz, G.A. Elmes |
Publisher | Springer |
Pages | 529-546 |
ISBN (Print) | 978-3-540-35588-5 |
DOIs | |
Publication status | Published - 2006 |