A ‘Whom Do You Hang With?’ Map Of America

NPR: A 'Whom Do You Hang With?' Map Of America

Look at the center of this map, at the little red dot that marks Kansas City. Technically, Kansas City is at the edge of Missouri, but here on this map it's in the upper middle section of a bigger space with strong blue borders. We don't have a name for this bigger space yet, but soon we will.

I would call it, for the moment, "The Part Of America Kansas City Hangs With" because that's what this map is saying. It's a new, intriguing way to see our country. This one was built by tracking dollar bill circulation. There've been similar maps built from phone call data. The idea here is to show America not as 50 states, but as regions where people do stuff together. In other words, a "Whom Do You Hang With?" map. …

This reminded me of the book Nine Nations of North America, though they are clearly using different metrics.