This is a cartogram of the current (2020) New Zealand electorates, with one hexagon for each electorate. Electorates have roughly equal populations, so this is a reasonable map of population distribution. The North and South Islands should be obvious; the Māori electorates make up a second mini NZ in the bottom right.
Why are these maps more useful than a geographic map? In short, because they don’t overrepresent rural areas and underrepresent urban areas. Stephen Beban (NZ) and Pitch Interactive (USA) have more to say on the topic.
The colours here indicate the regional groupings, to help orient you to the distorted geography. Many electorates cross regional boundaries, so these are just a rough guide. Most notably, the Wellington region is split between several Māori electorates.
The hexagonal layout is basically the same as I used in 2017, with the addition of the new south Auckland electorate. The original layout is thanks to Joseph Wright.
Click through the storyboard and see different data from the election visualised in hexmaps…
Each hexagon is coloured for the party of the winning candidate. The strength of colour tracks the percentage of votes the winner received — from 35.6% for the Green Party in Auckland Central to 77.9% for the Labour Party in Māngere. Mouse over to see the numbers.
Choose a party and see the tiles shaded relative to the number of voters. There are five shades: within 5% of the average, between 5-20% over (or under) average, and more than 20% over (or under) the average. The mouseover compares the 2020 and 2017 percentages.
Note that because it’s based on absolute numbers rather than percentages, the Māori electorates may be unexpectedly lighter because of their lower turnouts.
Despite the big shifts, National and Labour still have fairly complementary patterns.