Malta is a small island nation located in the center of the Mediterranean Sea. Its strategically significant port has made the island a point of contention throughout history, with numerous nations and empires fighting for control. As a result, Malta has become a melting pot of different cultures coming together to form the island’s unique identity. With a heavily service-based economy, Malta has thrived off of its connections with other countries around the world. This mapping project will explore Malta’s historic connections with various foreign empires, as well as look at its present day international connections through shipping, aviation, tourism, and diplomatic relations.
This mapping project is being done in conjunction with my interdisciplinary graduate studio project which is focused on historical preservation and rehabilitation of the US Ambassador’s residence in Malta. Our studio is partnering with the US Department of State’s Cultural Heritage Office to produce not only architectural designs, but also an interactive website demonstrating our research. I plan to use the web maps generated for this project on our final website, which will be linked to the Office of Cultural Heritage’s main site. My goal is to create one or potentially two Tableau stories with dashboards highlighting key aspects of Malta’s international connections.
The first part of this project will consist of a set of maps on different dashboards or one interactive map that depicts the various foreign nations that have occupied Malta throughout history. There were seven to eight periods of foreign occupation before Malta gained its independence in 1964. I would like to show where each foreign nation is located in relation to Malta, include historic art/photos, and highlight the research gathered by my classmates. Ideally, I would like this section to be a single map with the surroundings able to update as you click on the foreign nation but I am not sure this is possible within Tableau, so I need to do some additional research on this.
The second part of the project will focus on present day Malta and be more data focused. There are several areas I would like to look into: shipping, aviation, tourism, and diplomatic relations. For shipping, I am wanting data on what places ship to and from Malta and the shipping volume or frequency. Similarly, I would like to find information on flights (commercial and cargo) for the aviation section. Next, I want to look at which areas of Malta have the highest tourism and where the majority of tourists come to Malta from. Finally, I want to map Malta’s diplomatic relationships. I have already created a map for the location of foreign missions and embassies in Malta, but I would like to rework it and clean it up in Tableau.
I think the biggest challenge for this project is going to be finding out if my ideas for some of the maps can be done using Tableau. Creating dashboards that react to map filters is something that I would like to do if it is possible. If not, I think a story with static dashboards for each foreign nation would also work.