Stanford University, Google Create Coronavirus Maps for Journalists

The maps are embeddable and interactive

Coronavirus in California
Stanford University/Google

Google announced this week a new series of interactive maps for journalists to use in reporting on the coronavirus pandemic, created by Stanford University’s Big Local News and Pitch Interactive with an assist from the digital giant’s Google News Initiative.

The available maps- — called the Case Mapper project — “make it possible for local journalists to easily embed up-to-date Coronavirus map visualizations on their sites for readers,” according to Google News Lab’s data editor Simon Rogers, who wrote an announcement for the Tuesday reveal.

“This is the first project of a recently-announced partnership to launch a global data resource for reporters working on  COVID-19. In partnership with the Google News Initiative, the JSK Journalism Fellowships at Stanford University and the Big Local News group will aggregate data from around the world and help journalists tell data-driven stories that showcase local information,” he explained.

Case Mapper gives reporters the ability to embed small, regional maps for local readers along with national maps. Global ones will be available “soon,” according to the announcement. The cases are shown in relation to the selected area’s population, with colors changing every 100,000 cases.

The project pulls data from the New York Times’ open COVID-19 county dataset.

Here is Los Angeles County:

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