There are many benefits to having geographic elements when discussing history. The first benefit is that it gives readers an idea of location. Every historical event occurs in a location and by telling readers the location of an event, they will care more because they know where it happened. It’s not just something that happened in some random town anymore. Readers will also be more engaged. When readers see something move or touch a map and affect what they see, it encourages readers to stay and learn more about your topic. With text-based information, the reader is left with the task of understanding the information without visuals. But, with an interactive map, the reader has something he can use to visualize the information on the website. This makes the website more appealing and makes understanding the text easier. 

It doesn’t just help the reader stay interested. It also helps the author. Sometimes a concept or information is hard to explain with words, or a sufficient explanation would take too long. This concept or information may take so long to convey clearly that the author might do without this information or concept. However, an interactive map can explain this concept or convey this information sufficiently while using less room than a paragraph. The author can then use this space to emphasize something else. Interactive maps are also an opportunity to add information to the website. The author usually finds this information important enough to write about but would struggle to fit in without disrupting their flow. Interactive maps allow authors to write this information without disrupting their flow. Maps also serve as a natural transition point. They are often put in alongside other information, and the information in the text combined with the map allows the author to move on to the next part of their website with the comfort that the average person will be able to follow. 

Certain data elements are more effective than others because of how they present the information, and how quickly they provide a satisfactory explanation, and how much of an impression the information has made. For example, a graph showing the growth of the slave trade is helpful, but a reader is not likely to be amazed and is less likely to fully grasp the author’s point. However, the same point made by an interactive map will be very impactful. A reader will be amazed to see the amount of slave trade routes and will be more likely to fully grasp the author’s point. In the last scenario, the interactive map was so impactful, there was no need to write anything. The interactive map was worth three pages of words. 

My ideal interactive map is a map with locations of DC which were the most important in promoting the chocolate city. I will hopefully have a little introduction to each place on the map. I am also planning on creating an interactive map showing how African-American migration to DC increased. 

However, sometimes it’s the reverse. If the information the author is trying to convey is whether college students like ramen or chicken tenders more on average, an interactive map will not be as helpful as a graph. An interactive map will tell me which campuses prefer ramen or chicken tenders more, but in this scenario, I don’t care about campuses – I care about the individual students. A graph on the other hand will convey this information great because the graph is a visual of what every college student they asked said.