This week's map of considerable interest is a map of the individual football games CBS would be showing in various parts of the country at 1 PM on December 31, 2006. I did not choose this map for its fine graphics, incredible details, or overall attractiveness. I chose it because it is an example of how a map can be decidely mediocre in its presentation but immensely useful in its function. Essentially, anyone looking at the map can tell at a glance which football game will be on in that person's area. Surprisingly, it can be difficult to tell from typical television listings which of the several games going on at once will be shown in a viewer's market, as looking at national listings would like show nothing more than "NFL Football" for three hours, while localized listings may be harder to find.
It is also possible to deduce the network's beliefs about which games are of interest to which parts of the country. On this particular day, a wide swath of the country got the Jacksonville-Kansas City game, though much of the physical area receiving that game was a portion of the country that is not densely populated. Some oddities are apparent in the map, as well, such as the parts of Nevada, California, and Oregon receiving the New England-Tennessee game and large parts of Texas getting that game as well instead of the Cleveland-Houston game. Presumably, southern Florida got the Oakland-New York Jets game due to the perceived large number of New York retirees living in south Florida.
(Source: http://www.gribblenation.net/nflmaps)
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