The Wall Street Journal and The Heritage Foundation have been tracking economic freedom around the world for over a decade, using the Index of Economic Freedom, and have created 10 benchmarks for which to gauge a countries economic success — from property rights to entrepreneurship — in 184 countries.
The map was rendered using SVG (Scalable Vector Graphics) to allow for maximum compatibility with modern browsers and internet devices. This method was chosen with the increasing popularity of mobile browsing on tech gadgets like iPhones and iPads in mind (and necessary since Apple does not support Flash).
The map was created using D3.js. D3 is an advanced JavaScript library for creating visual representations of large datasets (data can be displayed graphically in a way that is quicker, more responsive and more interactive). D3 assists in the creation and manipulation of SVG documents, which means that the user experience becomes more dynamic. As the data changes and/or a user interacts with the page, the way the data is represented dynamically alters.
The flexibility of this technology allows the user to easily navigate through complex datasets, drilling down to the most relevant data points and filtering out anything not immediately relevant.
See the entire interactive on our site here, or view it on The Heritage Foundation site here.
