Although the relatively small number of case locations is not in keeping with the typical use of this technique to visualize the overall distribution of a large number of individuals, it is still noteworthy as possibly the first instance of using a map as an analytical and communication tool for social science, of spatial analysis, and of epidemiology (even though his conclusions turned out to be incorrect).

The earliest known district-based dot density map was created in 1830 by Armand Joseph Frère de Montizon (1788-????), a Franciscan