This informationisbeautiful graphic is pretty, but I don’t find it informative. The y scale is nonlinear, and I don’t know if the x scale conveys anything. It’s hard to work out the timing of inundation, which is really the key. The focus on the low points of big cities in developed countries is misleading, because those will be defended for a long time. Ho Chi Minh city should be on there, as well as the US gulf coast. USA Today would love this.
I have a love hate relationship with this one. I really like what they’re trying to do, but I hate the result for all the reasons you mentioned, plus this: The scale on the height of the buildings is wrong. It looks like the seas will reach the top of the empire state building before London even gets puddles. Oooops!
Good catch – that is a big oops!
I like what informationisbeautiful is doing, this was just a miss. They need a modeler on their team. If they’d just open up comments on their graphics, they’d probably get some virtual ones for free.