The Living Dead of Andorra

After looking at average heights around the world earlier today it seems like a good idea to look at the average life expectancy of different countries across the globe. Unfortunately this 3DFx Widget - Life Expectancy map is as bad as Le Pais' average height map is good.

It's hardly ever a good idea to try and visualize data on a 3d globe with vertical towers. It is in fact a really bad idea when the difference between the different values you want to show is very small. It is an even worse idea to then perpetually bounce your vertical bars up and down.

I defy anyone to accurately read the average life expectancy of a country on this 3d globe using the vertical towers on the map. I find it next to impossible to even judge which countries have taller towers than other countries.

Luckily this average life expectancy map does have a little table running along the bottom of the map showing the average life expectancy of countries in order (with Hong Kong having the highest). If I was 3DFx I would get rid of the 3d globe and just display this list.

I feel really sorry for anyone living in the last 16 countries in this list - including the Isle of Man, San Marino and Andorra. Apparently if you are from any of these countries you have a life expectancy of 0 and are therefore presumably dead.

BTW - it also took me an age to work out how to view the data on top of the 3d globe. You appear to need to click on the little globe icon in the top right-hand corner of the globe before the data is displayed.

Hat-tip: Google Street View World