{"podcast":{"title":"The PolicyViz Podcast","slug":"the-policyviz-podcast-1096919","podcast_index_feed_id":1096919,"rss_url":"https://feeds.zencastr.com/f/-k6yUlMb.rss","website_url":"https://policyviz.com/podcast/","image_url":"https://media.zencastr.com/image-files/5a0b59c06ebaa2000f259f8d/7af84444-9451-4413-b319-45f8ad09ca6d.png","author":"The PolicyViz Podcast","episode_count":311,"summary":"Learn how to be a great data communicator and visualizer with host Jon Schwabish. Hear from experts in the fields of data science, data visualization, and presentation skills to improve how you and your organization collect, analyze, and communicate your data in better, more efficient, and more effective ways.","last_synced_at":null,"page_url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/the-policyviz-podcast-1096919"},"episode":{"title":"Radical Cartography: What Maps Show, What They Hide, and Why It Matters","slug":"radical-cartography-what-maps-show-what-they-hide-and-why-it-matters","published_at":"2026-01-14T05:16:00+00:00","page_url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/the-policyviz-podcast-1096919/radical-cartography-what-maps-show-what-they-hide-and-why-it-matters","show_page_url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/the-policyviz-podcast-1096919","url":"https://zencastr.com/z/3rc1-eUU","audio_url":"https://redirect.zencastr.com/r/episode/69626fea2b12f4356e5bc339/size/67892040/audio-files/5a0b59c06ebaa2000f259f8d/e8ab7f03-988a-4d31-8d5e-4c281ca429d1.mp3","summary":"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 [https://patreon.com/policyviz?utm_medium=unknown&utm_source=join_link&utm_campaign=creatorshare_creator&utm_content=copyLink] for as little as a buck a month Grab Bill's new book, Radical Cartography [https://amzn.to/3Z6mRhi], and check out his website at radicalcartography.net [http://www.radicalcartography.net/]. Follow me on Instagram [https://www.instagram.com/jschwabish/?hl=en], LinkedIn [https://www.linkedin.com/in/jonathanschwabish/], Substack [https://jschwabish.substack.com/], Twitter [https://twitter.com/jschwabish], Website [https://policyviz.com/], YouTube [https://www.youtube.com/c/JonSchwab…","meta_description":"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…","key_points":[],"chapters":[],"topics":[],"duration_seconds":2761,"processing_state":"not_requested","actions":[{"name":"request_transcript","method":"POST","url":"https://stenobird.com/v1/public/podcasts/the-policyviz-podcast-1096919/episodes/radical-cartography-what-maps-show-what-they-hide-and-why-it-matters/transcription-requests","description":"Idempotently request low-priority transcript generation for this episode."},{"name":"read_markdown","method":"GET","url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/the-policyviz-podcast-1096919/radical-cartography-what-maps-show-what-they-hide-and-why-it-matters.md","description":"Read the agent-friendly Markdown representation of this episode resource."}]}}