Data Visualization: Walmarts

We're always fascinated by the visual representation of data. FlowingData is a web site that explores how statisticians, computer scientists, and designers work together to create meaning out of the sea of statistics in which we live.

Take, for example, the interactive map FlowingData created to illustrate the spread of Walmarts across the breadth of the nation, starting in 1964. The hypnotic result looks a bit like a disease map, as green blobs pop up to represent 3,176 stores in 2007.