The above map is called a star plot and is a somewhat unknown but very useful tool in the world of mapping because it is able to take a characteristic that has many variables in it and display them at the same time so that the various types and varieties within a larger subgroup can be seen. For example, this star plot map is talking about cars and offers information about a certain car in seven characteristics, including acceleration, the year it was made, the miles per gallon, horsepower, etc. Although the green area of the star extends all the way out to the tips of the star, the blue squares represent the actual data for this one car, but for each large subgroup, such as "automobiles" there could be a number of star plots for more specific groups, Honda, Saturn, etc. Star plots are one of the best visual tools because they easily show how things can be compared and contrasted, giving the map reader the option of putting the most value on the feature of the star plot that they believe is the most important.
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