Which Waters Matter? Media Attention to Toronto's Waterways (2010–2025)
Our map explores the uneven attention given to 15 water bodies — rivers, creeks, brooks, ponds, and water channels — across the Greater Toronto Area over a period of 15 years from 2010 to present. The more a water body is paid attention to in media or search engine queries, the larger it appears; other ones shrink or "disappear". This visual distortion is intended to provoke reflection on the disproportionate attention of different waterways, and how such disparities might shape intervention, leading some to be overlooked in terms of care, policy, and resource allocation. We invite you to interact with the map — watch the change in distortion across the map over the last 15 years, use the slider or play/pause to explore over time, or hover to learn more.
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References to waterways in
2010
Data Sources:
Data for attention to waterways in Toronto shown in this map is sourced from Google Trends and Toronto Star newspaper articles retrieved using ProQuest. The data is indicative rather than accurate, as precision was not the goal of this visualization.
Choose Data Source:
Google Trends Toronto Star
Map created as part of
2010
Research and map created by Taneea S Agrawaal, Nils Bonfils, Reyna Wu, affiliated with the Toronto Climate Observatory, and Prashant Baisla
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