One of my favorite map visualizations is Ben Fry’s ZipDecode, a 2004 project that shows the hierarchical nature of zip codes with a simple interaction. I wanted to play with it and was frustrated at how hard it was to run a Java applet these days. So I rewrote it: ZipDecode in Javascript.

Well I rewrote the easy parts. I left out the zoom, although that would be pretty straightforward using D3 transitions. And I left out the color transitions; the simple way I’m doing this in SVG it’s too slow to animate. I should rewrite it using Canvas to match the speed of the 2004 Java applet.

D3 makes this kind of visualization very easy. Particularly the projection; Ben’s online example uses a janky Platte Carrée, I imagine because he didn’t want to do the math. (The version in his book is more georesponsible.) I don’t want to do the math either, but with D3 I can just use the provided AlbersUSA. The source is on GitHub and is quite readable, I think.

Here he comes.
Here comes Speed Racer.
He's a demon on wheels.
He's a demon.
And he's going to be chasing after someone.

Proposed: Just Cause 2 is the perfect video game. I finished it soon after release, then played it through again about a year later, and am now playing it again a third time. I almost never replay old games, there’s so many new games to try. But Just Cause 2 is the perfect game when I just want to sit down with a beer for an hour and have fun blowing stuff up.

The game is a great combination of elements that all came together. Open world sandbox, fun blowing stuff up, and an amazing movement mechanic that lets you jump and fly and do all sorts of improbable stunts. The world is incredibly detailed and seamless. The rendering is fantastic, particularly the lighting. So much variety; snowy mountain towns, dense jungles, cities, the desert, it’s quite an impressive world design. And there’s a variety of emergent gameplay, particularly in the way you can make mayhem grappling things together and blowing stuff up creatively. I even like the story and voice acting: it’s not Shakespeare, but it’s certainly James Bond. And the thin veneer that somehow you’re a force for good despite the “we destroyed the village to save it” thing is hilarious. (Seriously; you blow up water towers to help The People.)

Just Cause 2 joins a few other open world games I’ve had serious fun in: Saints Row 3, Spiderman 2 (console), Crackdown 1, and Red Faction: Guerrilla. These games are all way more fun for me than any Grand Theft Auto has ever been. GTA games are amazing, particularly technically, but they are so ponderous. Just Cause 2 gets out of the way and just lets you fuck shit up. So much fun.

Bonus links: data analysis of where people died, including an awesome 3d point cloud of player deaths (emergent map!) as well as a heatmap. And the RockPaperShotgun feature Postcards from Panau.