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Science + Tech

How to Turn Data into Great Digital Maps: Beginners Welcome

Enrol now for Saturday's Tyee Master Class taught by expert 'data herder' Hugh Stimson.

David Beers 18 Nov 2013TheTyee.ca

David Beers is editor of The Tyee.

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Expert digital 'map maker and data herder' Hugh Stimson: It's easier than you think.

"There are stories in the data." That's the mantra of Hugh Stimson, an expert "map maker and data herder" who happens to rent a bit of space in the Tyee's offices -- a great benefit to The Tyee whenever we want to tell one of those data-driven stories. An excellent example of Stimson's talent lies in this interactive map of British Columbia's carbon sinks and emitters he created for The Tyee Solutions Society.

At this Saturday's Tyee Master Class, "Data-Driven Web for Beginners," Stimson will teach, in a small and intimate setting, the tricks of his trade to people who have never written a line of code and frankly don't intend to.

In April he conducted a Master Class on making interactive web maps that was overflowing with enrollees. But interest remains high in what Stimson does, and he explains, "some attendees wanted to focus on code-free mapping. So we'll mostly follow the same curriculum, but with a deeper dive into online tools that don't require working with JavaScript. We're considering following this class up with a more advanced session in a future season."

In other words, this class is decidedly friendly to non-geeks. Here, let the Tyee Fall Master Class home page explain:

"We'll talk about how to make the best interactive web maps that are possible without getting into any coding. We'll begin with a quick run-down of what makes web maps tick, then we'll review some of the best and most common online tools for making them. We'll make a first web map using address data, which we'll prepare using spreadsheets and a data-refining program. Then we'll go over some basic GIS (Geographic Information Systems) software skills, in order to sum up address-based data within neighbourhoods. Once we've got those shapes ready we'll create a second, more sophisticated web map."

Along the way, class members may be introduced to web tools including:

Mapbox
CartoDB
Quantum GIS
Microsoft Excel
OpenRefine

Last spring in an interview with The Tyee, Stimson explained why he is convinced such tools, and the people who know how to use them, are reshaping the way we communicate. The kinds of mapped data projects that draw lots of traffic, said Stimson, are some of the most simple to create:

"What people actually find and use -- and I think this might be encouraging to non-specialists considering making a simple map -- are single-purpose maps that give casual visitors quick access to a well-identified topic. People come to maps through keyword searches for a particular thing, or because they see it shared in their social feed. It turns out that 'All of the City of Vancouver's Data In One Mapping Interface' makes for a less compelling tweet than 'Map of Bicycle-Car Collisions in the West End.'"

Not only does Stimson know how to teach such data-map making skills, he knows where the data can be mined in the first place. As he noted last spring:

"I'm glad that institutions are building larger geoportals, because it has meant consolidating their spatial data into a department with the mandate for releasing it. Now those departments are creating data catalogues that expose all of the underlying data, instead of the maps themselves. And they have been promising their bosses that if they do that, journalists and civil society groups and businesses and so on will take that data and make the kind of maps that do draw a crowd. I'm hoping that our course will facilitate a few more deliveries on that promise."

Bring your idea or project to class

Stimson has designed this class to allow members to get well ahead on an idea or project they have in mind.

"Bring a laptop," he says, "And, ideally, some spatial data you're interested in. Anything with street addresses or latitude/longitude coordinates will do. If you don't have a dataset one will be provided, but chances are you've got a spreadsheet kicking around that would work. And if you've got a more ambitious project in mind, by all means bring that along and we can talk it through."

Hugh Stimson is a pro who helps values-based organizations with analysis and communications, and he's a seasoned teacher. Hugh has taught Geographic Information Systems to students and professionals at the University of California, the University of Michigan and the Smithsonian Institution, where he worked and studied in GIS, ecology and complex systems analysis.

The work Hugh is doing through his consultancy includes helping Georgia Strait Alliance and Raincoast Conservation Foundation map simulating oil spills in the Salish Sea, and assessing species, habitat and ecosystem services for groups like the David Suzuki Foundation, the Canadian Wildlife Society and the B.C. Forest Practices Board.

You'll learn skills to give you an edge, you'll enjoy a stimulating learning experience and you'll be pampered with delicious food courtesy of Choices and a splash of wine from B.C.'s own Clos du Soleil.

There are still a few spaces left for Hugh Stimson's Nov. 23 Tyee Master Class "Data-Driven Web for Beginners." Find out more and register here.

To find out about the sole remaining Tyee Master Class for this fall, "The New Publishing: Digital and Self-Publishing in the DIY Era," to be held Nov. 30, click here.  [Tyee]

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