I chose to examine the Caribbean cholera map from the 19th century. This project shows the location at which various cholera outbreaks occurred throughout the Caribbean, along with the various important news articles about the outbreaks. Large storms and hurricanes were also recorded and added to the map. It is split into 3 separate time periods, each with a timeline above, listing the date and month of the event (outbreak or storm) and placing it relative to the rest. The location relative to other outbreaks and news sources is shown using the lower part of the map, which zooms in on the Caribbean, below Florida in the Atlantic Ocean. When clicking on the location of each event, a short description of the outbreak, storm, or attached article appears, giving more information about the event. This map was created from the point of view of a scholar, wanting to share research on the topic. It assumes that readers are familiar with first of all what cholera is and that it traveled throughout the Caribbean. It shows only very specific instances that the developer wants to share. Overall, it reveals the locations of cholera outbreaks, but does not tie connections to where it could have spread. Only specific points are shown. It hides any details about the outbreaks: who started them, how they traveled, how intense they were. This map does effectively place each outbreak into a historical context, especially with the interactive timeline.
As an alternate map, I would choose to use a heat map. I believe that the timeline at the top, functioning to change the various outbreak locations as the time period changes, is extremely effective. I would keep this aspect of the current map. However, I would zoom in more on the Caribbean as a whole, rather than give simple access to viewing it compared to the whole world; nothing is recorded elsewhere and it only confuses the reader. I would also add in lines of connection, to see the pattern in which cholera traveled, affecting so many people in various countries. Seeing the disease travel would be an interesting aspect of the map that is currently not present. Using a heat map, it would be easier to see in which city the outbreak was most intense, but also illuminate areas that were less strongly affected but should still be included.