Category Archives: Data journalism

data visualization, interactive maps, timeline, coding

Who has the best geocoding tool for heat map – Tableau, Mapbox or Google Fusion Tables?

Posted on December 22, 2014 by Mu Lin

Geocoding is a key step in creating interactive heat maps; Tableau has a geocoding tool that is more efficient than the geocoding functions of Mapbox and Fusion Tables.

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Three guidelines for designing data dashboard in news reports

Posted on November 25, 2014 by Mu Lin

Data dashboard in a news report needs to (a) focus on a clear message, (b) use charts that best communicate the message and (c) include annotations to help audience understand the dashboard. I developed these guidelines from my own experience … Continue reading →

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Annotated Tableau Public tutorial video: A quick start guide for instructors and first-timers

Posted on November 20, 2014 by Mu Lin

This is a 5-minute video I created for the Intro to Data Visualization open course. Instructors and beginners of Tableau can use it as a quick start guide to create interactive data visualizations.

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Teaching data visualization: Recommended readings and resources

Posted on May 2, 2014 by Mu Lin

I want to share the reading/resource list in my data visualization course; the list breaks into six sections: intro to data viz, choosing the right chart, designing a nice-looking visulization, communicating your message, tools/tips, and resources. This list will be … Continue reading →

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Fusion Tables map tutorial: How to find and use public KML geographic data

Posted on April 22, 2014 by Mu Lin

This tutorial was prompted by questions students raised in my online mapping course: some students ran into problems when working with real-world data sets that (a) are not properly formatted and (b) do not come with ready-made KML geographic data.

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Google maps tutorial (part 4/5): About KML/KMZ geographic files

Posted on April 15, 2014 by Mu Lin

Tabular data, in the form of spreadsheets, is familiar to us; the geographic data, in the form of KML files, is new to many people. Among others, two common questions Fusion Tables map beginners have are (a) What is KML … Continue reading →

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Google maps tutorial (part 3/5): How Fusion Tables map works

Posted on April 15, 2014 by Mu Lin

Usually there are two scenarios when creating a Google Fusion Tables map: 1. you have a file (e.g., a spreadsheet) that has both raw data and geographic data. 2. you have a file that only has raw data, and the … Continue reading →

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Google maps tutorial (part 2/5): How to work with Fusion Tables

Posted on April 15, 2014 by Mu Lin

This tutorial introduces you to three aspects of using Fusion Tables: How to start a new table, how to navigate the table interface and how to use filter.

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Google maps tutorial (part 1/5): What Fusion Tables is and does

Posted on April 15, 2014 by Mu Lin

Google Fusion Tables (or simply Fusion Tables) is a free Web service provided by Google for data management. Data is stored in the form of tables that web users can view and download. Fusion Tables is a popular tool to … Continue reading →

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Google maps tutorial (part 5/5): How to create a free heat map with Google Fusion Tables

Posted on March 24, 2014 by Mu Lin

Tutorial goals: understand the ideas behind Google Fusion Tables heat maps; create an interactive map showing state-by-state U.S. population, as shown in the sample below. (This post is part five of a 5-part tutorial on creating Fusion Tables intensity map; … Continue reading →

Posted in Data journalism, Digital tools and tips | 3 Comments