Crime Clearance Rate Visualization
A little while back, I wrote two posts on crime statistics appearing in the Baltimore Sun newspaper. Below is another graphic from the Sun that appeared on the cover of the October 26th edition.
Source
The line graph in the lower section shows the Baltimore clearance rate (red) and the National clearance (yellow) from 1995 until 2008. What I like about this graph is the zoom breakout section (top graph) where the timeline goes back to 1990 instead of 1995 as shown in the lower. This method highlights the more recent period, but gives the reader the ability to see more historical data.
Because of the size, the graphs are a little difficult to read here. It may have been more effective to list the method of calculating the clearance rate in a bottom footnote versus taking up so much space. Both graphs could benefit from more space to see the details better.
What do you think – Love it or hate it?
Related:
Baltimore Can Stack ‘Em Up – Prequel
Most Commented Posts
October 29th, 2008 at 4:58 pm
Looks okay at first glance.
It does have the usual thing I complain about, of excessive gridline labels. I think intelligent people are capable of guessing that the gridline halfway between the one labelled “80″ and the one labelled “60″ might be 70%. All that ubiquitous labelling does is make the numbers harder to read by crowding them.
October 29th, 2008 at 5:02 pm
Yes, good point Derek. Excessive labels as well as tick marks can be reduced. I think even unintelligent people can figure out that in between 60 and 80 typically comes 70.
Thanks for the comment!
October 31st, 2008 at 7:16 am
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