Designing linked micromap plots for states with many counties

This paper describes the design of linked micromap plots for showing county estimates on a state by state basis. The linked micromap template was spec ifically developed to represent spatially indexed statistical summaries. Ea ch plot shows regional names, spatial patterns and statistical patterns whi le linking them all together. Thus the design is useful for communicating s ummaries from a host of health and environmental studies. The specific desi gn challenge in this paper is to create one-page plots for the states with 60 to 120 counties. While the county names and micromaps take up substantia l space, the three examples demonstrate that there is sufficient space to r epresent two variables. The basic design has the potential for showing more . Consequently the new designs are suitable for presenting sophisticated su mmaries. Copyright (C) 2001 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.