Create a cartogram by assigning size to flags (or two letter symbols) without displaying map lines

cartogram.py

import plotly.express as px
import adviz
import numpy as np
import pandas as pd

population = pd.read_html('https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_and_dependencies_by_population')
pop = population[0][['Location', 'Population']].copy()
flags = []
for country in pop['Location']:
    try:
        flags.append(adviz.flag(country))
    except Exception:
        if country == 'Palestine':
            flags.append(adviz.flag("PS"))
        elif country == 'Russia':
            flags.append(adviz.flag("RU"))
        elif country == 'United States':
            flags.append(adviz.flag("US"))
        elif country == 'United Kingdom':
            flags.append(adviz.flag("GB"))
        elif country == 'Iran':
            flags.append(adviz.flag("IR"))
        elif country == 'Czech Republic':
            flags.append(adviz.flag("CZ"))
        else:
            flags.append(None)
            continue

pop['flag'] = flags
pop = pop.dropna(subset=['flag'])

population[0][population[0]['Location'].str.contains('Czech')]

fig = px.scatter_geo(
    pop,
    locations='Location',
    locationmode='country names',
    text='flag',
    size='Population',
    hover_name='Location',
    title='Population',
    height=700,
    opacity=0,
)
fig.layout.geo.showframe = False
fig.layout.geo.lataxis.range = [-53, 76]
fig.layout.geo.lonaxis.range = [-125, 171.5]
fig.layout.geo.landcolor = 'white'
fig.layout.geo.showcountries = False
fig.layout.geo.coastlinecolor = 'white'
fig.data[0].textfont.size = np.sqrt(pop['Population']).div(300).add(1).round()
fig.data[0].marker.color = 'white'
fig


# Example for plotting US states, with marker size corresponding to the satate's GDP


states_gdp = pd.read_html('https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_U.S._states_and_territories_by_GDP')

states = states_gdp[0].iloc[:, [0, 2]].head(50).copy()
states.columns = ['state', 'gdp']
states['state'] = states['state'].str.replace(r' \*', '', regex=True)
states.head()

state_abbrev = pd.read_html('https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_U.S._state_and_territory_abbreviations')

abbrev = state_abbrev[1].iloc[:, [0, 5]]
abbrev.columns = ['state', 'code']
abbrev.dropna().head()

state_gdp = pd.merge(states, abbrev)
state_gdp['gdp'] = state_gdp['gdp'].mul(1_000_000)
state_gdp.head()

fig = px.scatter_geo(
    state_gdp,
    locations='code',
    locationmode='USA-states',
    text='code',
    size='gdp',
    hover_name='state',
    scope='usa',
    color='gdp',
    height=700,
    title='GDP by state',
    color_continuous_scale='cividis',
    opacity=0,
)
fig.layout.geo.landcolor = 'white'
fig.layout.geo.showcountries = False
fig.layout.geo.countrycolor = 'white'
fig.layout.geo.coastlinecolor = 'white'
fig.data[0].textfont.size = np.sqrt(state_gdp['gdp']).div(32000).round()
fig.layout.coloraxis.showscale = False
fig.layout.title.x = 0.5
fig.data[0].hovertemplate = '<b>%{hovertext}</b><br>GDP: $%{marker.color:,}'
fig.layout.title.subtitle.text = 'California > Texas > New York'

fig