34:["$","title",null,{"children":"Day 10: Prompting only | Xavier Olive | Observable"}] 3c:T5ae,${nav(10)} # Day 10: Prompting only *How many languages do people speak?* It depends on what gets counted. Some sources ask which languages people can hold a conversation in; others record a second language, the languages used at home, or the ability to read and write. This globe brings these sources together, each with its own question. Blank areas mean no data in this map, not monolingual populations. This is the kind of work agents do well. On all the other notebooks, Claude worked alone. Here, I had both Claude and ChatGPT brewing. A map like this one needs sources in as many formats as countries: census workbooks for Bolivia, a PDF report for Nepal, survey microdata for Africa, an API for Eurostat, a table copied by hand from New Zealand's data explorer. Each one has to be found, read, reshaped into the same few columns, joined to the right boundaries, and checked: do the shares add up, do the regions sum to the country, does the question really describe the person interviewed? Several agents worked on separate countries at the same time, and the audit caught what the builder had missed, like a province drawn with the numbers of one of its cities, or figures shown without their caveats. My part was to ask, to make choices, to challenge, and to say when something looked wrong. Scroll inside the map, or use its arrows, to travel through the places covered, and point at a dot to see its source and the languages spoken there.3d:Ta6b,**How it is made.** Each dot stands for 25,000 people. Dots are placed on the GHS-POP 2020 population grid (European Commission, JRC), aggregated to cells of 0.1°, inside each unit that has a measure, and coloured at random according to the unit's shares of people speaking one, two, or three or more languages. The colours do not locate individual speakers, and the sources cover different years and age groups. Rings mark proxies, where the question was not about the languages a person speaks: languages used at home (USA, Paraguay, Indonesia), literacy (Papua New Guinea), ethnic minorities (China). Point at a dot for its unit: the shares, and the languages most often spoken there, from the same source (Afrobarometer, Eurobarometer, the censuses of India, Nepal, Canada, Hong Kong, Bolivia and New Zealand; literacy in Papua New Guinea; languages used every week in Switzerland; languages used at home in Paraguay, the United States and Indonesia, where the American survey only gives groups of languages; none for Norway, Iceland, Serbia and Türkiye, whose survey only counts languages). The world average of about 1.6 (1.57) is LINGACON's estimate (A2 level or above), a compilation of surveys, censuses and estimates (CC BY 4.0). **Sources.** Senegal: census 2002, via F. B. Niang Camara (ODSEF, 2010), cited in the card. Europe: Special Eurobarometer 540 (2023); Norway, Iceland, Serbia and Türkiye: Eurostat, Adult Education Survey 2022, table edat_aes_l21 (ages 25–64). Switzerland: BFS, Erhebung zur Sprache, Religion und Kultur 2024, by language region (communes as in BFS, Die Sprachgebiete der Schweiz, 2022, as on Day 2); the share using 3 or more languages is only published nationally, and estimated by region from the national split. India: Census 2011, table C-17. Nepal: census 2021, National Statistics Office, report on caste/ethnicity, language and religion (one second language recorded: a lower bound). China: Census 2020 yearbooks (national and Jilin). Hong Kong: 2021 Population Census. Indonesia: Long Form of the 2020 census, BPS (2022). Papua New Guinea: 2011 census national report. New Zealand: Stats NZ, 2023 Census, tables CEN23_ECI_020 and CEN23_ECI_021. Paraguay: INE, EPHC 2025. Bolivia: INE, Censo de Población y Vivienda 2024, cuadros 7 and 9 (at most three languages recorded). Canada: Census 2021, table 98-10-0216-01. United States: American Community Survey 2020–2024, table B16004 (via Census Reporter). Africa: Afrobarometer Round 4 (2008–2009), questions Q88E–F “What languages do you speak well?”, by region (20 countries; the Round 9 codebook shows its language question describes the interviewer).3e:T4a35,// Day 10: a globe that turns and zooms as the frame scrolls, from one place where people commonly speak several // languages to the next. Each dot stands for a fixed number of people, coloured by how many languages they speak // (1, 2, 3 or more), placed where people live (GHS-POP grid) and drawn from the best measure available for that // place; proxies (not a direct question on languages spoken) are drawn as rings. Hovering (or tapping) a dot shows // its unit: shares of people speaking 2 and 3+ languages, and which languages are spoken there. // Narrow frames (phones, under 700 px) get a stepper instead of the inner scroll: the globe on top, then // previous/next buttons and the card in the page flow; swipe to change stop, tap a dot to pin its tooltip. // multilingualGlobe(data, {world, invalidation}): data = {dots, units, stops, perDot}, world = world-atlas // countries (TopoJSON, 110m), invalidation = a promise that stops the animation. function multilingualGlobe(data, {world, invalidation} = {}) { const {dots, stops, perDot, units = []} = data; const uid = Math.random().toString(36).slice(2, 8); const COLORS = {1: "#8f9bab", 2: "#e3a12f", 3: "#c0392b"}; const INK = "#2f2a24", SEA = "#dfe6e8", LAND = "#f3eee4"; const countries = topojson.feature(world, world.objects.countries).features; const borders = topojson.mesh(world, world.objects.countries, (a, b) => a !== b); const esc = (s) => String(s ?? "").replace(/[&<>"]/g, (c) => ({"&": "&", "<": "<", ">": ">", '"': """})[c]); const smooth = (a, b, x) => { const t = Math.min(1, Math.max(0, (x - a) / (b - a))); return t * t * (3 - 2 * t); }; // ── frame: an inner scroll; the stage sticks while the cards pass ── const root = document.createElement("div"); root.className = `globe-${uid}`; root.innerHTML = ``; const stage = document.createElement("div"); stage.className = "stage"; root.append(stage); const canvas = document.createElement("canvas"); stage.append(canvas); const legend = document.createElement("div"); legend.className = "legend"; legend.innerHTML = `

1 language

2 languages

3 or more

where a source gives no 3+ split,
orange means 2 or more

1 dot = ${d3.format(",")(perDot)} people

`; stage.append(legend); const tip = document.createElement("div"); tip.className = "tip"; stage.append(tip); canvas.setAttribute("role", "img"); canvas.setAttribute("aria-label", "Globe with one dot per 25,000 people, coloured by the number of languages they speak; the text of each stop is in the cards."); root.tabIndex = 0; // arrow keys move between stops const titles = stops.map((s) => (s.html.match(/

(.?)<\/h3>/)?.[1] ?? "").replace(/<[^>]>/g, "")); const nav = document.createElement("div"); nav.className = "nav"; nav.innerHTML = ``; stage.append(nav); const panel = document.createElement("div"); panel.className = "panel"; root.append(panel); const stepNodes = stops.map((s) => { const el = document.createElement("div"); el.className = "step"; el.innerHTML = `
${s.html}
`; root.append(el); return el; }); // ── layout ── let sw = 0, sh = 0, dpr = 1, compact = false, laidOut = ""; const ctx = canvas.getContext("2d"); const layout = () => { const w = root.clientWidth; if (!w) return; const key = `${w},${window.innerHeight}`; if (key === laidOut) return; // the stepper's height follows its card: ignore that laidOut = key; sw = w; compact = sw < 700; root.classList.toggle("compact", compact); if (compact) panel.before(nav); else stage.append(nav); // stepper: between the globe and the card; wide: over the globe sh = compact ? Math.round(Math.min(sw * 1.1, 520)) // not window.innerHeight: inside a notebook it is the frame's own height : Math.round(Math.min(sw * 0.62, window.innerHeight * 0.85, 760)); dpr = Math.min(2, window.devicePixelRatio || 1); root.style.height = compact ? "" : `${sh}px`; stage.style.height = `${sh}px`; canvas.width = Math.round(sw * dpr); canvas.height = Math.round(sh * dpr); stepNodes.forEach((el, i) => { el.style.height = `${sh}px`; el.style.marginTop = i === 0 ? `${-sh}px` : "0"; }); if (compact) show(index); else if (root.scrollTop === 0 && index) root.scrollTop = index * sh; last = null; }; const ro = new ResizeObserver(layout); ro.observe(root); // ── camera: each stop looks at [lon, lat] with a zoom k (1 = the whole globe fits the frame) ── // the globe sits left of centre so the cards on the right hide as little as possible const projection = d3.geoOrthographic().clipAngle(90).precision(0.3); const path = d3.geoPath(projection, ctx); const graticule = d3.geoGraticule10(), sphere = {type: "Sphere"}; const camera = (pos) => { const i = Math.min(stops.length - 2, Math.floor(pos)), f = smooth(0.15, 0.85, pos - i); const a = stops[i], b = stops[i + 1]; const c = d3.geoInterpolate(a.center, b.center)(f); const dist = d3.geoDistance(a.center, b.center); // zoom out on long journeys const k = Math.exp(Math.log(a.k) * (1 - f) + Math.log(b.k) * f) * (1 - Math.min(0.55, dist / 3) * Math.sin(Math.PI * f)); return {c, k}; }; // ── draw ── const N = dots.lon.length; const sx = new Float32Array(N), sy = new Float32Array(N), si = new Int32Array(N); // a random layer per dot (fixed seed), and the dots sorted by layer then colour: one pass, few colour changes const layer = new Uint8Array(N), rnd = d3.randomLcg(10); for (let i = 0; i < N; i++) layer[i] = Math.floor(rnd() * 24); const order = d3.range(N).sort((a, b) => layer[a] - layer[b] || dots.cat[a] - dots.cat[b]); let last = null, drawn = 0; const draw = ({c, k}, near) => { const r = (compact ? Math.min(sw, sh) * 0.47 : Math.min(sw * 0.62, sh) * 0.46) * k; projection.rotate([-c[0], -c[1]]).scale(r).translate([compact ? sw / 2 : sw * 0.34, sh / 2]); // wide: left of the cards ctx.setTransform(dpr, 0, 0, dpr, 0, 0); ctx.clearRect(0, 0, sw, sh); ctx.beginPath(); path(sphere); ctx.fillStyle = SEA; ctx.fill(); ctx.beginPath(); path(graticule); ctx.strokeStyle = "rgba(90,110,120,0.18)"; ctx.lineWidth = 0.6; ctx.stroke(); ctx.beginPath(); for (const f of countries) path(f); ctx.fillStyle = LAND; ctx.fill(); ctx.beginPath(); path(borders); ctx.strokeStyle = "rgba(60,50,40,0.35)"; ctx.lineWidth = 0.5; ctx.stroke(); // dots: only those on the visible hemisphere; size grows a little with zoom const lam0 = c[0] * Math.PI / 180, phi0 = c[1] * Math.PI / 180; const s0 = Math.sin(phi0), c0 = Math.cos(phi0), rad = Math.max(0.7, Math.min(2.2, 0.55 * Math.sqrt(k))); drawn = 0; // drawn in a shuffled order, in 24 interleaved layers of the three colours, so that where dots overlap // no colour covers the others (drawing 1, then 2, then 3+ made everything dense look red) let filled = new Path2D(), rings = new Path2D(), cur = -1; const flush = () => { if (cur < 0) return; ctx.fillStyle = ctx.strokeStyle = COLORS[cur % 4]; ctx.lineWidth = 0.8; ctx.globalAlpha = 0.85; ctx.fill(filled); ctx.globalAlpha = 0.7; ctx.stroke(rings); ctx.globalAlpha = 1; filled = new Path2D(); rings = new Path2D(); }; for (let o = 0; o < N; o++) { const i = order[o], key = layer[i] * 4 + dots.cat[i]; const lam = dots.lon[i] * Math.PI / 180, phi = dots.lat[i] * Math.PI / 180; if (s0 * Math.sin(phi) + c0 * Math.cos(phi) * Math.cos(lam - lam0) < 0.01) continue; // far side (cosine of the distance to the centre) const p = projection([dots.lon[i], dots.lat[i]]); if (!p || p[0] < -5 || p[0] > sw + 5 || p[1] < -5 || p[1] > sh + 5) continue; if (key !== cur) { flush(); cur = key; } sx[drawn] = p[0]; sy[drawn] = p[1]; si[drawn++] = i; // remembered for hovering if (dots.proxy[i]) { rings.moveTo(p[0] + rad, p[1]); rings.arc(p[0], p[1], rad, 0, 2 * Math.PI); } else filled.rect(p[0] - rad, p[1] - rad, 2 * rad, 2 * rad); } flush(); ctx.beginPath(); path(sphere); ctx.strokeStyle = "rgba(60,50,40,0.5)"; ctx.lineWidth = 0.8; ctx.stroke(); // labels of the current stop only, with a light halo so they read over the dots ctx.font = "italic 13px Georgia, serif"; ctx.textAlign = "center"; ctx.lineJoin = "round"; // a label may be moved away from its place by [dx, dy] pixels (to avoid overlaps): a leader line then points back to it for (const [lon, lat, text, dx = 0, dy = 0] of stops[near]?.labels ?? []) { if (d3.geoDistance([lon, lat], c) > 1.4) continue; const a = projection([lon, lat]); if (!a) continue; const p = [a[0] + dx, a[1] + dy]; if (dx || dy) { const ty = dy < 0 ? p[1] + 3 + 13 * (text.split("\n").length - 1) : p[1] - 11; // end of the line: below or above the text ctx.beginPath(); ctx.moveTo(a[0], a[1]); ctx.lineTo(p[0], ty); ctx.strokeStyle = "rgba(255,253,249,0.9)"; ctx.lineWidth = 2.5; ctx.stroke(); ctx.strokeStyle = INK; ctx.lineWidth = 0.7; ctx.stroke(); ctx.beginPath(); ctx.arc(a[0], a[1], 2, 0, 2 * Math.PI); ctx.fillStyle = INK; ctx.fill(); } text.split("\n").forEach((line, j) => { // first line: the place; next lines (smaller, upright): its languages ctx.font = j === 0 ? "italic 13px Georgia, serif" : "11.5px system-ui, -apple-system, sans-serif"; ctx.strokeStyle = "rgba(255,253,249,0.9)"; ctx.lineWidth = 3; ctx.strokeText(line, p[0], p[1] + j * 13); ctx.fillStyle = INK; ctx.fillText(line, p[0], p[1] + j * 13); }); } }; // ── hover: the nearest drawn dot within 8 px tells its unit ── const pct = (x) => `${Math.round(100 * x)}%`; const describe = (u) => { const lines = [`${esc(u.name)}${u.country && u.country !== u.name ? `, ${esc(u.country)}` : ""}`]; if (u.s2 != null) lines.push(`${u.lb ? "at least " : ""}${pct(u.s2)} speak 2 languages or more${u.s3 != null ? `, ${pct(u.s3)} 3 or more${u.est3 ? " (estimated)" : ""}` : ""}`); if (u.mean != null) lines.push(`${u.mean.toFixed(2)} languages per person`); if (u.langs?.length) lines.push(`
${u.langs.map(([l, sh]) => sh != null ? `${esc(l)} ${pct(sh)}` : esc(l)).join(" · ")}
`); lines.push(`
${u.proxy ? `Proxy: ${esc(u.proxy)}. ` : ""}${esc(u.source)}${u.year ? `, ${esc(u.year)}` : ""}
`); return lines.join("
").replace(/
(tip.style.display = "none"); const showTip = (ev, radius) => { // the nearest drawn dot within radius px const r = canvas.getBoundingClientRect(), x = ev.clientX - r.left, y = ev.clientY - r.top; if (x < 0 || y < 0 || x > sw || y > sh) { hide(); return; } let best = -1, bd = radius * radius; for (let j = 0; j < drawn; j++) { const dx = sx[j] - x, dy = sy[j] - y, d = dx * dx + dy * dy; if (d < bd) { bd = d; best = j; } } const u = best >= 0 ? units[dots.unit?.[si[best]]] : null; if (!u) { hide(); return; } tip.innerHTML = describe(u); tip.style.display = "block"; const w = tip.offsetWidth, h = tip.offsetHeight; tip.style.left = `${Math.max(6, Math.min(sw - w - 6, x + 12))}px`; tip.style.top = `${Math.max(6, Math.min(sh - h - 6, y + 12))}px`; }; root.addEventListener("pointermove", (ev) => { if (ev.pointerType !== "mouse") return; if (ev.target.closest?.(".card, .legend, .nav, .panel")) { hide(); return; } showTip(ev, 8); }); root.addEventListener("pointerleave", (ev) => { if (ev.pointerType === "mouse") hide(); }); root.addEventListener("scroll", hide); let down = null; // touch and pen: a tap pins the tooltip (tap again elsewhere to close it), a sideways swipe changes stop canvas.addEventListener("pointerdown", (ev) => { down = {x: ev.clientX, y: ev.clientY}; }); canvas.addEventListener("pointerup", (ev) => { if (!down) return; const dx = ev.clientX - down.x, dy = ev.clientY - down.y; down = null; if (compact && Math.abs(dx) > 50 && Math.abs(dx) > 1.5 * Math.abs(dy)) { hide(); go(index + (dx < 0 ? 1 : -1)); return; } if (ev.pointerType !== "mouse" && Math.hypot(dx, dy) < 10) showTip(ev, 16); }); // ── stops: buttons, keys, and the stepper's card ── let index = 0; const reduced = window.matchMedia?.("(prefers-reduced-motion: reduce)").matches; const show = (i) => { panel.innerHTML = `
${stops[i].html}
`; }; const go = (i) => { i = Math.max(0, Math.min(stops.length - 1, i)); hide(); if (compact) { index = i; show(i); } else root.scrollTo({top: i * sh, behavior: reduced ? "auto" : "smooth"}); }; nav.querySelector(".prev").addEventListener("click", () => go(index - 1)); nav.querySelector(".next").addEventListener("click", () => go(index + 1)); root.addEventListener("keydown", (ev) => { const d = {ArrowRight: 1, ArrowDown: 1, PageDown: 1, ArrowLeft: -1, ArrowUp: -1, PageUp: -1}[ev.key]; if (d && ev.target.closest?.(".card") == null) { ev.preventDefault(); go(index + d); } }); let shown = -1; const updateNav = (i) => { if (i === shown) return; shown = i; nav.querySelector(".where").textContent = `${i + 1} / ${stops.length} · ${titles[i]}`; nav.querySelector(".prev").disabled = i === 0; nav.querySelector(".next").disabled = i === stops.length - 1; }; let frame, pos = 0; const tick = () => { if (sw) { const target = compact ? index : Math.min(stops.length - 1, Math.max(0, root.scrollTop / sh)); if (!compact) index = Math.round(target); pos += (target - pos) * 0.12; if (reduced || Math.abs(target - pos) < 1e-4) pos = target; updateNav(index); const cam = camera(pos), near = Math.round(pos), key = `${cam.c[0].toFixed(3)},${cam.c[1].toFixed(3)},${cam.k.toFixed(4)},${near}`; if (key !== last) { draw(cam, near); last = key; } // redraw only when the camera moves } frame = requestAnimationFrame(tick); }; frame = requestAnimationFrame(tick); invalidation?.then(() => { cancelAnimationFrame(frame); ro.disconnect(); }); return root; }3f:[{"id":"c49169c6d588cc5959c18aa7fad3ee63aa23b3dee94c9fcf87bb2849b53488878f0450f0cae20490911c86457d47cb30501805a7000d0372df9506dd9c4f65b4","href":"https://static.observableusercontent.com/files/c49169c6d588cc5959c18aa7fad3ee63aa23b3dee94c9fcf87bb2849b53488878f0450f0cae20490911c86457d47cb30501805a7000d0372df9506dd9c4f65b4","name":"globe.json","type":"application/json","lastModified":1794130928313,"size":6119475}] 38:{"id":"1bf1a61e0593edf7","slug":"30-day-map-challenge-2026-day-10-prompting-only","title":"Day 10: Prompting only","thumbnail":"743cb57d08cd412e947092500fb2656431a0e8ad28144ba0b9750b7204080276","access_level":"public","create_time":"$D2026-11-07T19:14:51.208Z","update_time":"$D2026-11-08T10:14:39.903Z","view_time":null,"first_public_time":"$D2026-11-10T05:27:49.258Z","has_unpublished_edits":null,"fork":false,"stars":1,"starred":false,"owner":{"type":"team","id":"6b95df6ccdd0cd40","login":"xoolive","name":"Xavier Olive","avatar_url":"https://avatars-next.observableusercontent.com/e055a445877c5a8ee2da134a257760536c2d1ee2fcd43f3aaf3f40db54e13733","tier":"starter_2024","bio":"Research scientist. 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