I used a cartogram generator called MAPspresso to make the following colorful pictures. For reference, I've included the original map as well.
As you can see, there are only a few states with really large websites: California, Washington, and Michigan are at the top of the list. Some small states (like Hawaii) really grow, becoming the size of Texas; while others (like Alaska) really feel the squeeze. The District of Columbia, which was allowed to join in the fun, is just as big as Maryland, both of which tower over the states around them. Missouri looks out of place as well, pushing out the eight states that surround it, except for Illinois.
Pulling this data from our Web Search Platform was a snap once I had a list of the sites that states use. This is no easy task! Most states use domains like ca.gov or missouri.gov but some use more exotic names as mirrors, such as www.state.tx.us or tennesseeanytime.org. (Poor Virginia lost va.gov to the Department of Veterans' Affairs.) The data I pulled takes all of these variations into account.
As one of my co-workers pointed out, the US sort of looks like a bug-eyed goldfish, swimming the sea of information. What do you see?
Comments - Permalink
