Slashgeo

Declan Butler links to a great report from Columbia University’s Center for International Earth Science Information Network (CIESIN) on an important set of new GIS data related to poverty. From the blog: "Most of the data are also available as shapefiles [...] But what’s really interesting are the within country studies, providing exceptional data on several variables. [...] I’ve made a few quick exports of the global maps to Google Earth [...]" From the project's mission: "The Global Poverty Mapping Project seeks to enhance current understanding of the global distribution of poverty and the geographic and biophysical conditions of where the poor live. Additionally, the project aims to assist policy makers, development agencies, and the poor themselves in designing interventions to reduce poverty."

Very Spatial links to a map of IP addresses per capita. From the entry: "As seen in the shaded map above, it's the African countries and disputed territories that have the highest ration of people to assigned IPs. The least IP-dense country, the Democratic Republic of Congo, has been stricken by war during the main period of growth of the internet, and has likely suffered. There is a clear reflection of GNP in these figures too - those countries with lower GDPs have similarly lower concentrations of IPs."

The Catholicgauze blog has a nice analysis of the Index of Economic Freedom map. The Index is published by The Heritage Foundation. From the blog: "The top seven all have been strongly culturally influenced by England and the English ideals of personal and economic freedoms. [...] A secondary break down has Hong Kong and Singapore as Asian tigers. [...] The bottom fifteen countries include Venezuela, Iran, Zimbabwe, Libya, Cuba, and North Korea. The bottom part of the list coincides with Thomas Barnett's Gap. These countries are either African, Islamic, Communist/Thug Communist, or a combination of the variables."

I just stumbled onto this world map of the Corruption Perceptions Index 2006. From the Transparency International website: "Transparency International commissioned Prof. Dr J. Graf Lambsdorff of the University of Passau to produce the CPI table. For information on data and methodology, please consult the frequently asked questions and the CPI methodology or www.icgg.org." From the site, less corruption perceived in Finland, Iceland, New Zealand, Denmark and Singapore, while at the other end of the spectrum, Haiti, Myanmar, Iraq, Guinea, Sudan and Congo.

The FortiusOne blog provides a detailed entry on corruption datasets and maps. The maps use Maker! From the entry's introduction: "Transparency International just released its annual Corruption Perceptions Index (CPI), which measures the perceived levels of public sector corruption in a given country. With the latest release, the disturbing link between poverty, failed institutions and graft is made. For 2008, Denmark, New Zealand, and Sweden shine as the cleanest countries, while Iraq, Myanmar, and Somalia fall as the most corrupt countries of the 180 countries surveyed." This topic was covered a year ago.