Cartograms are maps scaled by an attribute other than geography. For example using travel time, population or any other variable of interest.
At the August 2020 User Council Meeting Alma Vazquez (DHS) presented on her experience installing a new toolbox in ArcGIS Desktop to produce a cartogram.
The Cartogram Geoprocessing Toolbox provides one means to develop cartograms in ArcGIS Desktop and can help to show your data represented in a map in totally surprising way.
One of the goals for the Department of Health Services (DHS) during the COVID-19 pandemic is to provide sufficient testing for the LA County population. We used the cartogram tool to create a map for a LA County based on Cities and Communities population totals for 2019. The result was unusual but with very interesting results. Areas with greater populations become visually exaggerated compared to other familiar methods we typically use when doing thematic mapping.
To see what steps are needed to build a cartogram please click here for Alma’s Presentation Slides: Cartograms in ArcGIS