Jack Shulze of Berg says the map exploits today's higher levels of visual literacy from games, television and comics. Part of his purpose, he says, was "an exploration into way-finding devices." He writes about his influences here.
It's a great image. To me it's also a great metaphor for one of statistics' all-time headaches: how to make aggregate data that describes whole populations, their lives, chances and risks, feel real and relevant to everyone's sense of "me, here, now".