Visualizing the Rise and Fall of 4 Empires
As much as we enjoy learning all the various details that contribute to the expansions and contractions of successive global empires, we’d much rather watch them unfold as an animated infographic than have to, you know, learn them in a textbook or something. Happily, graduate student Pedro M. Cruz’s thesis on information visualization involved creating a pretty and instructional video that makes the recent histories of France, Britain, Portugal and Spain easier to grasp by Visualizing the Rise and Fall of 4 Empires.
(via Neatorama)
I am a data visualization professional. I recognize the power of visualization, but only when it is done effectively and meaningfully. This visualization does not make “the recent histories of France, Britain, Portugal and Spain easier to grasp.” It is typical of many animated infograhics. They are cute, but fail to communicate. Above all else, all forms of information display, including information visualization and infographics, should communicate the inteneded message clearly. I have no idea what Pedro Cruz intended to communicate that couldn’t have been more clearly communicated with a single, well-written sentence.
oh shit there went Portugal.. and damn the spanish there tiny but the green one smaller and i saw Canada where im at!! omg