Cartographic Projection of Spherical Networks


Many discussions deal with ethical issues about the production and distribution of personal data, but a few focus on how data are presented.

The research challenges the assumption that network visualizations must be flat and framed, arguing they can be differently mapped on the continuous spherical surface without interruptions.

Once mapped on the sphere, cartographic projections are applied to make networks printable again with no loss of spatial continuity.

Brilliantly coded by Philippe Rivière, the result is a more democratic space where elements are sidelined.

The idea is more detailed in the conference paper Drawing Network Visualizations on a Continuous, Spherical Surface, presented at the 24th International Conference Information Visualisation (IV2020).