Iraq War Fatalities Animated Map

Iraq War Fatalities
First reported by Nora Parker, Senior Managing Editor, DirectionsMag.com

Graphic designer Tim Klimowitz created this animated map (you'll first see a red button, and then the animation begins) of Iraq showing US and coalition military fatalities per day during the war. Klimowitz says that he was trying to create "something as objective and apolitical" as possible. My nine year old daughter happened to wander into my office while I was looking at the site, and based on her reaction, it was quickly apparent that the map communicates information in a way that could be quickly grasped by almost any audience. According to Klimowitz's description on the site:

"The animation runs at ten frames per second -- one frame for each day -- and a single black dot indicates the geographic location that a coalition military fatality occurred. Each dot starts as a white flash and a large red dot which fades to black over the span of 30 frames/days, and then slowly fades to gray over the span of the entire war."Accompanying the visual representation is a soft 'tic' sound for each fatality, the volume of which increases relative to the number of fatalities that occurred simultaneously that day. More deaths in a smaller area produce visually deeper reds and audibly more pronounced 'tics.'"