Warning: this is the darkest map I’ve made yet this year.

It’s also my favorite. Just not for the faint of heart.

I’ve always liked maps that move me emotionally. Piss me off. Get me riled up. Or make me stop and reflect. Rarely has a map ever made me cry.

This one, as I kept testing it on my website over and over actually made my eyes well up a bit, particularly as I scanned the cursor over the little figure icons and saw the numbers.

America has problems. They are bigger than any single administration, unfortunately. They are systemic. No real solution, but hopefully this map shows just how insane my country has become. (It may also explain to CEOs why so many are opposed to their “back to the office” compaigns. It’s about more than getting laundry done.)

Turn the volume up a bit. It’s methodical. It hurts after a while. If you don’t have 6 minutes, click on 2x speed. Explore the icons. Remember the victims.

To get even insightful details about the dataset used in this map visit the The Violence Prevention Project.

View and Play the Map

Web Map GPT Prompt Used

# Intention
I want to make a map that exposes just how violent and toxic the US has become due to violence in the workplace.

I have a dataset about violent incidents and/or shooting in US workplaces.

I would like to make a very minimalist, animated map that shows these incidents, chronologically, as what appear like bullet holes in a paper map.

Fine Detail Note: the drop shadow adds a bit of design nuance you may notice closer to 2024.