geospatial-and-cartographic-visualization

Use a map only when position, adjacency, flow, or geography itself is analytically meaningful. If the task is ranking, precise comparison, or distribution across named regions, a sorted table, dot plot, or bar chart is usually clearer than a map.

Leaflet fits lightweight slippy maps with markers and GeoJSON overlays. MapLibre GL JS suits vector-tile styling and data-driven layers without a commercial runtime. Google Maps is best when you need managed road basemaps, Places, routing, geocoding, or traffic context.

Use D3 geo for custom projections, thematic cartography, and annotation-rich analytical maps. Use deck.gl for high-volume points, aggregation, trips, arcs, hex layers, and GPU-heavy geospatial interaction layered on MapLibre, Mapbox, Google Maps, or ArcGIS.

Use clustered summary symbols for dense point previews that dissolve on zoom, displacement or spiderfying when overlap counts are small and each point needs immediate visibility, and exact-location anchor dots when large proportional symbols must preserve true coordinates.

Choropleths mislead when they show raw counts instead of normalized values like rates, ratios, or shares per population or land area. Projection choice also distorts area perception, so equal-looking regions can hide very different population contexts.

Use CesiumJS or a globe only when depth, terrain, occlusion, or globe-scale context changes the analysis, such as 3D Tiles, temporal scenes, or line-of-sight work. For flat thematic or product maps, 3D adds complexity without analytical benefit.