Flow Map

http://www.mekongmigration.org/?page_id=25

This is a Flow map of labor migration. Flow maps show a moment of a set of data from one place to another. Examples of data are money, goods, or peoples. They make reading the data easy to follow, hence why I think they make a great way to display certain data.

Isopleth Map

http://www.flutrackers.com/forum/showthread.php?t=132504

Isopleth Maps are mostly used to show surface elevations, precipitation, and atmospheric pressure. It makes it simple to read when looking at data with a continuous distribution. What makes these maps useful is that it shows data in the third dimension. This Isopleth map shows the outcome of the H1N1 virus on California during the year 2009.

Windrose

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Wind_rose_plot.jpg

Originally known as a Compass Rose, the Windrose is used to track winds over a period of time. This helps meteorologist determine weather patterns. It tracks things such as speed and direction. The colors on the Wind rose show wind ranges and form which directions they are blowing from.  

Climograph

http://www.colorado.edu/geography/extra/geogweb/bouldercreek-2/preview/page2.html

This Climograph represents the amount of rainfall and temperature in Boulder, Colorado. This graphs are very useful when determining the average climate in a certain area. From the graph you can see that May is the month with the highest amount of rainfall. It also looks like June is the month with the highest temperature. 

Dot Distribution Map

http://amacogis.wordpress.com/2009/02/09/37/

Dot Distribution Maps use dots to show a collection of data. This map shows population of the nonmetro poor and it seems like the majority of the poor are on the East coast. 

Bilateral Graph

http://strangemaps.wordpress.com/?s=suicide

Bilateral graphs display two related variables and how they differ in function. They can increase and decrease on either side of the map. This map shows the number of people and on which side of the bridge they committed suicide on the Golden Gate Bridge.  

Star Plots

http://start1.jpl.nasa.gov/caseStudies/autoTool.cfm

This Star Plot illustrate multiple variables for location or other observations shown. Resulting lines around each primary point then allows for comparison against the star plots for other locations and data. 

Thematic Map

http://soils.usda.gov/use/thematic/images/drought_1_gen_area_map.jpg

This type of map shows the effects of drought on the United States and the soil moisture regimes. It is a thermatic map which is a type of map that shows a specific theme over a given area. These themes can portray agriculture, political viewpoints, and economics over states, regions, and countries. I choose this map because soil moisture regimes is something that I enjoy studying.