Bivariate choropleth map documenting land cover intensity and population growth in Poland 2006–2018

Abstract

Bivariate choropleth mappings are proposed in this paper as an effective GIS-based approach that supports the monitoring of Sustainable Development Goals, listed in the Agenda 2030, namely build-up area expansion and population dynamics, the Tier II indicator for SDG 11 (11.3.1). This paper focuses on the application of a multidimensional approach to mapping land use efficiency in Poland between 2006 and 2018. The resulting data are assigned to counties and visualized as choropleth maps categorizing the counties based on the strength of land cover intensity and population growth. The proprietary class interdependence index (CII) based on the relationship between these two variables is used to evaluate class ranges of the bivariate choropleth map. The proposed cartographic presentation might be a useful and important tool in SDG monitoring as it provides information about the relation between population and land consumption rate, portraying the most correlated data in classes along the diagonal.