Cool cartography--Risk mapping at a broad view

I came across this short blurb by  on some tricks for catchy large-scale maps. The bullet-points include:

• Interesting Topic.  The subjects of these maps inherently represent risk, which we want to understand.
• Unexpected Scope.  A forest view of something that’s usually seen at the tree-level offers satisfying perspective.
• Big and Clear.  A single dataset is conceptually simple, and when large enough, it provides its own context-promoting conversation in the wild.
• Sharable.  A static image is portable and paste-able, easily nestling into articles, blogs, tweets, and PowerPoints.
• Attractive.  The currency of design buys a second or third look.

There is often a push to make large datasets available through interactive webGIS portals, but I think this makes a good case that there is still also a role for skilled cartography to present information in captivating ways. 

Below is an example of one of the author's (John Nelson) maps, and more can be found here. 

Who Says Religion and Science Can't Mix? Mapping the 7 Deadly Sins

The Las Vegas Sun ran an article about researchers from Kansas State who conducted a study on mapping the "Seven Deadl Sins". Well, actually proxies for those sins. Judge for yourself if you believe the surrogate variables are indeed indicative of the "sins". No matter how you slice it, it's mapping, and it's interesting...

http://www.lasvegassun.com/news/2009/mar/26/one-nation-seven-sins/