May 2014 Summaries

Gilt, an ecommerce giant with over 1,000 employees, is hosting a free CartoDB class in their Manhattan offices on June 4th from 5-9 PM, offering hands-on training and expert insights into creating interactive maps, publishing online maps, and integrating dynamic external data. The event includes dinner and is open to Gilt technologists and anyone interested in learning about CartoDB. To maximize the experience, attendees are encouraged to sign up for a free CartoDB account beforehand, which will provide them with a head start on exploring mapping possibilities.

PHR's comprehensive map tracks 150 attacks on 124 medical facilities in Syria, resulting in the deaths of 468 medical personnel since March 2011. The majority of attacks (90%) were committed by government forces, while anti-government armed groups were responsible for most recent attacks (9 out of 10). The governorates of Rif Dimashq and Aleppo reported the highest numbers of facility attacks, with Rif Dimashq and Homs governorates reporting the highest numbers of medical personnel killed. PHR used a variety of open sources, including UN reports, news articles, social media posts, and field research, to collect data for the map. The map was created using CartoDB's platform, which allows for real-time updates and customization. PHR used different visualizations, such as cluster maps and choropleth maps, to represent attacks on medical personnel and facilities, respectively.

The World Wildlife Fund (WWF) has been awarded the CartoDB Climate Grant to support its project on Opportunities for Climate-compatible Tourism Development in Belize, which aims to promote sustainable tourism practices that minimize negative impacts on the environment. The WWF will use CartoDB technology to create visualizations and dynamic data maps, analyzing the areas of the Belize coastline most vulnerable to climate change and the role of tourism in those areas. By reducing pollution and wasteful consumption, promoting renewable natural resources, and conserving biodiversity, the project seeks to promote harmony between humans and nature. The CartoDB Climate Grant supports non-profit projects tackling issues related to climate change, aligning with the White House's Climate Data Initiative.

Infowindows on hover will be available in the CartoDB Editor, allowing users to view data without having to click on a marker, speeding up browsing and discovery of data. Users can still customize their infowindow on click independently from the new hover feature. Preloaded icons for markers are also now available, providing an easy way to customize visualizations with just a few clicks.

The first images from the Sentinel-1 satellite, launched on April 3, 2014, are now being made available for open access in Europe, thanks to the European Commission's Open Data policy. This allows small businesses and individuals to use these images to develop new products and services, such as monitoring sea ice zones, land surface motion risks, and mapping of land surfaces, among others. CartoDB, a tool that harnesses satellite imagery, is excited to partner with scientists and users to extract value from these satellites, particularly with the European Earth Observation Programme Copernicus and its Sentinel missions.

We are excited to welcome Jan Marsch, a seasoned software engineer with over 16 years of experience developing desktop and mobile web applications, to the CartoDB team. Jan has been working in some of the largest mapping companies for the past five years, bringing his expertise in JavaScript rendering performance to the table. As the creator of OSM Buildings, one of the few rendering engines for buildings based on HTML5 Canvas and OpenStreetMap, Jan will be focusing on improving this project as well as contributing to other core open-source projects. He joins us from Berlin, a hub for European startups, bringing fresh perspectives and expertise that we're eager to see in action.

The article features Chris Henrick, a CartoDB collaborator who is also assisting a non-profit organization called InsideSchools.org in using the mapping tool to solve their web-mapping needs. The InsideSchools mission is to make it easier for parents and students to navigate NYC's complex public school application process. Henrick has helped InsideSchools create dynamic maps that use Leaflet JS to query GeoJSON data, as well as a high school search engine that will help students and parents select schools based on various criteria. Recently, he mapped newly launched pre-kindergarten programs in NYC, which were announced by Mayor Bill de Blasio. The map was created using CartoDB's geocoding service to map the addresses of each school to latitude and longitude coordinates, with new programs standing out in yellow-orange markers while existing programs fall towards the back in blue markers. Infowindows were added to display additional information when users click on a marker, and a legend was created to explain the meaning behind the marker colors. The process of creating this map was straightforward and easy to use, thanks to CartoDB's intuitive User Interface.