DRAINERS & GAINERS

As an alternative to common maps often shown in statistical reports, this interactive visualization shows the net result of people relocating between cities in The Netherlands in 2010.

RELOCATION DATA

This visualization was created as an alternative to a very basic map found in a statistical report that showed relocation in The Netherlands. The original image in the report showed arrows that represented the aggregated result of people moving between provinces. I thought it was worthwhile to explore an alternative approach that was interactive, and showed relocation data at the city level instead of the province level.

Freely available open data from the Dutch statistical orginization (CBS) has been used to calculate the net result of people relocating between cities for the year 2010.

THE VISUALIZATION

Blue represents people moving into the selected city (gaining), whereas red represents people moving away from the selected city (draining). The shapes on the left and right are bar charts showing the relative total number of people moving in or out a city. Users can show or hide drainers and gainers, turn the 2D lines into 3D arcs, rotate the map interactively with the mouse, and rotate the arcs to get a better sense of the distance people move from or to a city.

Some interesting insights can be found: Amsterdam for instance (see image) clearly shows that it attracts people from all over the country, but people leaving Amsterdam appear to stay really close to the city.

Using 3D in a visualization is always a highly debated topic because of its ineffectiveness. In this case at least it adds to the fun of playing with the visualization.