Nothing ruins a nice drive quite like hitting a large pothole in the road and then having to wonder if you’re going to have to shell out a lot of money to fix your car’s tire. These large craters, and other cracks in the road can be a common site after a winter season of freezing temps; but which parts of the U.S. seem to have the most roads in the worst condition all year round? Thanks to this chart created by Teletrac Navman, you can identify the cities with the worst roads in America.

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The chart ranks 77 of the biggest urban areas in the U.S. on the condition of their roads. The road conditions in each area have been rated by the Federal Highway Administration as good, fair, mediocre, or poor based on a pavement smoothness measurement that is calculated annually. The roads that are rated as ‘Good’ are those that are new or nearly new, offer a smooth ride, are distress-free, and have minimal cracks and patches. On the other end of the spectrum the roads that are rated as ‘Poor’ were found to be extremely deteriorated roadways, roads that can only be driven on at a reduced speed; and roads with large potholes, deep cracks, and other signs of distress that cover 50-75% of the roadway. Having to drive on a road where 75% of it is in disarray and difficult to maneuver would add quite a lot of time to your drive! Not to mention the increase in car repair bills as the tires and suspension will wear down quicker. Check out the chart below to see which U.S. cities have the best roads to drive on, and which cities you should be extra cautious driving in!

Sports are a universally beloved source of entertainment and pride across the globe. How many sports fans are there in the world? While it is hard to quantify just how many people are sports fans, one indicator of just how prevalent sports are in society is (how many people viewed the 2022 World Cup)! FIFA reported that an impressive 1.5 billion people tuned in to watch the final live. That’s around 20% of the world population! So what is the most popular sport in the world? You guessed it – soccer! Or association football as the majority of the world calls it. The team at AAAStateofPlay has created this fun, bold visualization of the most popular sport in every country across the globe. Let the games begin!

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I absolutely love the header! It’s unique, dynamic, and vibrant! The world map is informative, but my favorite part of this chart is the second visualization. I am not sure what this type of data viz is called – please let me know in the comments if you know! It really helps to convey just how much association football (soccer) dominates the world, but it also gives cricket, baseball, rugby, and basketball opportunities to shine. I want to visit Anguilla and witness boat racing at its finest – it is the country’s official national sport, after all! Cricket is the second most popular sport in the world, which makes me wonder – is America missing out? We should start a petition to bring cricket to the United States!

Color has the power to evoke a kaleidoscope of different emotions and concepts. The message or symbolism conveyed by a color often varies across cultures, although some are almost universally believed to encompass a certain idea or feeling. For example, red is often associated with passion and black is the epitome of evil or grief. However, there can be vastly different interpretations of color around the world, which is just so intriguing to me! The founder of Information is Beautiful, David McCandless, has created this beautiful circular design called “Colours in Culture”, which showcases how colors are linked to different concepts and sentiments across cultures.

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What an absolutely compelling yet simple way to visualize this information! What cultural color “conundrums” stand out to you? There are a few concepts that have a wide range of colors, such as love. According to this, love is represented by red in Western, Japanese, and Asian culture, green in Hindu culture, yellow in Native American culture, and blue in African culture. What color do you associate love with the most? Death is another intriguing one. It is associated with black in Western, Japanese, and Native American culture, and white in Hindu and Chinese cultures. In Arab culture, death is silver, but here is the real curiosity – South Americans associate death with green! I looked into it further and found that while that is true for many Latin countries, green is the national color of Mexico and considered patriotic, so it is important to do further investigation before flexing your cultural color wheel knowledge!

All in all, I am in love with this idea for a visualization and the execution is stunning! One tiny critique would be to have the lines continue all around because I did struggle a bit with lining up the color blocks to the cultures.