Radical Cartography: What Maps Show, What They Hide, and Why It Matters
About this episode
The episode features a discussion with Bill Rankin about the implications of mapping and data visualization.
In this episode, I sit down with Bill Rankin, historian of science at Yale and author of Radical Cartography, to unpack what maps really do beyond simply showing data. We talk about why mapping is an act of representation with real consequences, how common techniques like choropleths and cartograms shape what we see—and what we miss—and why there's no single "correct" way to visualize the world. Bill shares how his background in architecture influences his approach to mapping as drawing and world-making, not coding or dashboards. We also dig into static versus interactive maps, accessibility, and why starting with questions—not tools—leads to better visualizations. It's a thoughtful conversation about intention, trade-offs, and responsibility in data visualization. Keywords: PolicyViz Podcast, Bill Rankin, Radical Cartography, data visualization, maps and mapping, cartography, choropleth maps, cartograms, population maps, map projections, visualizing data, representation in data, ethics of data visualization, static maps, interactive maps, storytelling with data Subscribe to the PolicyViz Podcast wherever you get your podcasts. Become a patron of the PolicyViz Podcast…
People in this episode
Host: unknown
Guest: Bill Rankin
Topics covered
- maps
- data visualization
- representation
- cartography
- ethics of data
Mentioned in this episode
Organizations: Yale
Books & works: Radical Cartography
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