Reuters has announced a new partnership with Mapcreator to offer its customers essential mapping tools and features for the 2020 US elections.
Will it be DNC or GOP? Will Donald Trump get a second term at the White House? Or will it be Joe Biden? Will swing states again play a decisive role in election of the next POTUS? Set against a backdrop of widespread disruption caused by the coronavirus pandemic, a divided electorate, Donald Trump’s recent Covid-19 diagnosis, the rise of misinformation, and a record number of Americans opting to vote by post, this year’s US election is poised to be one of the most watched elections in broadcast history.
At every twist and turn in this roller coaster journey till the final outcome, there is one mode of communication that links everybody – be in an American or an outsider – the blue and the red dots on the map. And if you are a news junkie, staying up to date on the night and beyond, will be more interesting with the new Mapcreator tool. Reuters customers subscribing to the live US election results data feed provided by National Election Pool (NEP) — a consortium comprising the four biggest US networks (ABC News, CBS News, CNN and NBC News) — and Edison Research, can now subscribe to Mapcreator’s mapping tools to build and customize interactive maps for their audiences.
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Reuters is the exclusive distributor for US elections results from the National Election Pool and Edison Research, and plans to deliver comprehensive election data via the NEP, providing up-to-the-minute insights and results on one the biggest political events of the year.
The Mapcreator tool
“In just two weeks, we have been able to create a new live data layer and now we can offer this to existing and new customers alongside their own custom map design. Our goal is to extend this partnership towards the future for many important elections and more,” says Christian Erades, Commercial Lead at Mapcreator.
As users create their own interactive maps and share on their website, the maps will automatically refresh as the source data is continually updated. Mapcreator’s customized, interactive choropleth maps can also be tailored for online audiences and a static map can be created for television or print using the data layer and downloaded straight away.
Personalized maps based on color, design and fonts to match Reuters customers’ visual identity plays a growing importance to how their audiences stay engaged with data-driven information.
“Reuters is delighted to team up with Mapcreator to offer Reuters News Agency customers the ability to create tailor-made interactive maps of election results based on their unique preferences,” says Sue Brooks, Head of Product Development & Agency Strategy at Reuters.
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The Reuters data offering is part of a massive multimedia effort that will capture the key moments on election night across data, text, pictures, video and graphics, with engaging interactives and election night maps as well as live video, extensive photo coverage and non-stop, real-time coverage on election day.
A sample of an interactive map from Mapcreator platform can be viewed here.
Reuters-Facebook partnership
Earlier in September, Reuters had announced a partnership with Facebook to provide social media users with live US election night results.
As part of that tie-up, throughout the election night, authoritative data delivered by Reuters will be shown on Facebook’s Voting information Center and shared in push notifications. This will include live election results charting real-time outcomes including vote tabulation, exit polls and winner projections from the NEP and Edison Research.
“We’re partnering with Reuters and the National Election Pool to provide authoritative information about election results. We’ll show this in the Voting Information Center so it’s easily accessible, and we’ll notify people proactively as results become available,” Facebook founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg had said as part of the announcement then. Importantly, if any candidate or campaign tries to declare victory before the results are in, Facebook said it will add a label to their post educating that official results are not yet in and directing people to the official results.
