August 2014 Summaries

CartoDB has released its Twitter Maps service, which allows users to perform geospatial analysis and visualization of Twitter activity in a matter of minutes. The feature is now available for Enterprise plan customers, enabling them to search for tweets, select periods, and map the data instantly. With this tool, users can build complex visualizations with millions of points, analyze demographic trends, and monitor brand mentions in real-time. CartoDB's integration with Twitter provides a unique advantage, allowing users to access millions of tweets from the last 30 days, whereas other tools only offer access to a limited number of tweets. The platform also enables fast and painless retrieval of tweets, instant visualization, and geospatial analysis without data movement limitations. Twitter itself has chosen CartoDB as its mapping platform for global events, highlighting the tool's accessibility and impact.

Kalev H. Leetaru, adjunct faculty at Georgetown University, used CartoDB to create an interactive map of global conflict that updates every morning, showcasing current events in context and macro-level trends. Leveraging the GDELT Project's vast dataset of global news reports, the map provides a unique visualization of the world's conflicts, allowing users to zoom in on specific regions or countries. By automating the process using CartoDB's SQL API, the map can be updated daily, offering a new way to think about visualizing and analyzing global news. The project demonstrates the power of combining large datasets with interactive mapping tools like CartoDB, enabling users to gain insights into complex global issues.

CartoDB at FOSS4G 2014 Soon, CartoDB will join the largest open-source geospatial conference, FOSS4G with a permanent presence. The project is excited about this event and will be sending several team members to participate. CartoDB will showcase its GIS cloud apart from other projects, and attendees can expect to see presentations on various topics such as map storytelling, empowering people through popularization of open-source, dynamic mapping, design progress in open-source, interactive online maps, and data visualization using SQL, CartoCSS, and Javascript. The company will also be giving workshops and has a booth at the expo area where attendees can learn more about developing geospatial projects. Additionally, Javier Santana will speak at JS.geo conference on September 9th.

Today we consume information primarily through mobile devices, a reality that CartoDB has supported from its inception by designing maps that can thrive on-the-go. Scaling visualizations for multiple platforms was a challenging technical hurdle until the advent of mobile-specific views and auto-responsive screen adaptation. CartoDB's new Editor streamlines map views, allowing cartographers to access data wizards, SQL queries, and other features while mobilizing their maps. The Canvas Selector enables users to add text and images, change element positions, and control visualizations' appearance for desktop and mobile views, opening up possibilities for delivering responsive visualizations that tell stories with data.

Citi Bike's bike transportation costs are likely significant due to the need to move bikes between stations, which can be costly depending on demand and availability. By analyzing Citi Bike's data using SQL and GIS tools in CARTO, insights have been gained into the efficiency of the system, such as identifying areas where riders can take over more moving tasks while trucks minimize their bike transports. Visualizations have also shown commuter flows, bike usage patterns, and pickup/dropoff times, revealing surprising trends like a major hub generating bike flow in opposite directions. These findings suggest opportunities for optimization, such as placing stations strategically to minimize management effort and exploring solutions for the mysterious cluster around Grand Central Station. By leveraging CARTO's powerful data manipulation and GIS tools, users can turn their own data into insightful visualizations, making it easier to understand complex systems like bike-sharing services.

Miles Grimshaw used Kimono Labs' Authenticated API creation tool to extract his Citibike trip data, which he then visualized using CartoDB. The resulting map shows the location and timing of each trip, revealing interesting insights such as average speeds, arrival times, and patterns in commuting behavior. With this analysis, Miles was able to gain a better understanding of his own transportation habits and explore the potential for cities to use data from bike-sharing services like Citibike to inform urban planning decisions.

The creator, Jeff Jenkins, used NYC's open data portal to obtain truck route and bike lane data in Manhattan, trimming the data to reduce size and create layers for visualization. He then created a map that overlays truck routes onto bike lanes, highlighting the need for better southbound bike lanes in central or eastern Manhattan. To make both lines visible, Jenkins used CartoCSS's line-offset style. He also added a manual layer to denote southbound bike lanes and included a legend explaining the colors. The process took only a few hours to complete, with Jenkins learning about line-offset through CartoDB's reference materials.

Prevent your tables and visualizations from undesired changes` Creating maps can be addictive, resulting in many unwanted tables and visualizations that need to be managed. To address this issue, CartoDB has launched a new feature that allows users to lock their tables and visualizations, preventing them from being altered unintentionally. This feature enables users to control the default view of their dashboards and receive warnings when attempting to edit locked items. Locking and unlocking items can be done multiple times as needed, with a dedicated dashboard providing access to all locked visuals.