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Okvau Mine in Cambodia’s Chung Phlas commune is a lucrative gold mining project that aims to recover the country’s post-pandemic economy. Sitting on the Phnom Prich Wildlife Sanctuary, the mine threatens the traditional lifestyle of the nearby indigenous Bunong residents. An article from VOD English News“‘Everything Changed’: Cambodia’s Gold Rush Weighs on Indigenous Livelihoods'' using the locator map to help understand this tension. This map helps pitching the story by visualizing how Okvau Mine interferes with the wildlife sanctuary and thwarts the local ways of living and traditions. We will recreate the exact same map, and after finishing this recipe, you will be able to make maps with point, line and area markers on it!
Locator maps serve as powerful visual aids which give the audience a better understanding of the geographic context for news stories, ranging from weather reports to sports events. When reporting incidence in unfamiliar territory or precise locations, locator maps highlighting places with points, lines, and areas are quite effective in storytelling.
You can use Datawrapper, an open-source tool, to create and customize locator maps. In Datawrapper, there are three possible ways to add markers on the map. The first one (Using Datawrapper Built-in Software) is the most direct and easiest, while the last one (Using QGIS) may be time-consuming and the hardest.
Luckily, you will be exposed to all three methods of adding markers as you try to recreate the map!
So, here are a few things to do before we get started!
Once you have installed QGIS on your desktop, leave it for a while as we are revisiting as we customize area markers.
Adding markers help visualize the exact location of a place that you want to show. It helps readers accurately imagine where it is in the world conveniently. There are multiple methods to craft markers onto your map. In this section, we will explore how to add markers through Datawrapper’s built-in software, Google Maps, and QGIS.
First, we will use Datawrapper to set up the Cambodia map.
The Datawrapper Work page will pop up. You can see that Datawrapper uses an easy 4-step method to create charts: Upload Data; Check & Describe, Visualize; Publish and Embed.
It will ask you the type of map which you want to create.
You will see a new page where you can start adding markers. Before adding markers, we will need to narrow down the geographic region we want to zoom in. For example:
You will see the map will Zoom into Cambodia.
We will need to delete the layer since the map will zoom into a province level in Cambodia.
We will add Mondulkiri Province where the gold mining occurs through Datawrapper’s website. Instead of putting a dot, we want to mark the area of the province in the map.
That means we need to add a region as an area marker.
Now we have added the Mondulkiri Province shown in gray.
Then we can customize the fill and outline of this area marker.
Now you have completed adding the first area marker for the map.
Sometimes, Datawrapper does not have information on specific geographic locations. In this case, we can export data from Google Maps into Datawrapper. This next marker–Okvau Gold Mine–will be placed on the map through Google Maps.
Unlike the Mondulkiri Province, the gold mine will be shown in a point marker as it is a smaller geographic entity. One thing to be aware of is that the Datawrapper may or may not have location information for this goldmine. Good news is that we can find the location on Google Map and then add it to the map, simply by copying and pasting the link.
A point marker named “Renaissance Mineral (Cambodia) Limited'' will be added on the map as shown below. However, we want to mark it as a mine. We need to change the name and symbol associated with the mine.
Now the map looks professional with Okvau Mine and Mondulkiri Province. We still need two more layers with the help of QGIS.
This process is basically the same for both Phnom Prich Wildlife Sanctuary and Chong Phlah Commune.
Here is the simplification of the upcoming steps:
Sometimes, certain types of geographic information are too specific to be acquired through Datawrapper and Google Maps. In this case, QGIS can be used to extract the shapes that you need. It is a free, open-sourced geographical information system used for mapping census data, environmental information and other types of spatial data.
First we will extract the layer for Phnom Prich Wildlife Sanctuary. Cambodia has over 22 wildlife sanctuaries. The Open Development Data site provided geospatial information for all these wildlife sanctuaries.
It will show you the preview of wildlife sanctuaries across Cambodia.
A new webpage will appear. There are eight datasets of protected areas in Cambodia (national park, wildlife sanctuary, protected landscape, multiple use, natural heritage site, Ramsar site, biosphere reserve and marine national park) with issuing dates starting from 1993 to 2021.
A new window will pop up.
It will show the all shapefiles of the wildlife sanctuaries in Cambodia. We only need the layer associated with Phnom Prinh.
It will show the all shapefiles of the wildlife sanctuaries in Cambodia.
This will allow you to select the feature and we will use the name of the sanctuary for this process.
You will see the area associated with Phnom Prich Wildlife Sanctuary turned yellow, which means that the area has been selected. Now we will export this area.
It will open a new window.
Now the new shape file is added on the map and also stored as a GeoJSON file, which can be uploaded to Datawrapper to form an area marker.
We are also adding another area marker–Chong Phlah Commune. This can be retrieved from OCHA Humanitarian Dataset, which is a great place to obtain administrative boundaries datasets.
After downloading the shapefile, you can continue extracting the Chong Phlah Commune from the shapefiles of Communes as you did for “Phnom Prich Wildlife Sanctuary”.
This time, screenshots will not be provided as the process is similar. Try to make it happen by following the prompts. You may revisit the previous steps if you need.
Now we have got GeoJSON files for both Phnom Prich Wildlife Sanctuary and Chong Phlah Commune. Let’s get back to where we left off in Datawrapper to add them as area markers.
You will see these two layers are added to the map. Now we are going to make adjustments in colors and outlines.
We will begin refining with Phnom Prich Wildlife Sanctuary.
We will continue adjusting the Chong Phlah Commune. It may be named “Area marker 1”. If so, we will need to change the name.
Now all the markers are added to the map. We will move on to designing the map where we are selecting map styles and putting some elements.
And then we are adding some map elements which assist the viewer to better understand the context.
Now the map looks a lot more stylish! We will need to put titles and legends to make it more professional.
Then we will need to add legend for markers
We can skip Layout as there are no specific things to be changed.
Now you have successfully followed the recipe and created a visualization! Feel free to compare your result with ours:
When done properly, locator maps help readers have a better idea of how a given set of geographic information looks like. It is best used to pinpoint where a specific location is on the map and where it is close to for reference. Without the need for long-winded explanations, this visualization effectively portrays geographic information in an easy-to-understand manner.
This technique is especially powerful in fields such as journalism where information is needed to be conveyed as fast as possible. In the following links, you can also see how mainstream journal articles use locator maps for various new reports.
To Learn more about what we do, vist our website at www.thibi.co
