Over on Flowing Data, Nathan Yau has put together a new series of maps comparing whether bars or grocery stores are more common in different parts of the country. This is not new territory—Floating Sheep made the original bar/grocery map back in 2010—but there are some nice additions here. Specifically, Yau's data is from Google's new-and-improved Places API, and he's using a continuous color scheme instead of the either/or that Floating Sheep used.


This design highlights how serious Wisconsin is about its drinking. Based on Google Places, the state has 2.7 times as many bars as grocery stores, even though grocery stores outnumber bars by 13 percent nationwide. Important to note: The dots above have 10-mile radii, which is a grain of data that might not capture the bar/grocery store breakdown right around where you live, particularly if you live in a big city.

Yau also took a stab at mapping out some other countries. Canada and Australia are below; you can check out the other nine over on Flowing Data.


[Flowing Data]