October 2014 Summaries

We're CartoDB, a platform that aims to help users create more creative and comprehensive maps by making public data more accessible. Our common data page offers various datasets such as World Borders, European Countries, Urban Areas, and Populated Places that can be easily imported into your own account and mapped to tell unique stories. We also provide access to current physical datasets from the U.S. Geological Survey and other institutional databases, allowing users to build applications on environmental issues and more. Additionally, we're adding more public datasets from outside sources every week, inviting users to contribute their own curated datasets in the future.

Aurelia Moser, a developer at Knight Mozilla Open News, worked on a map visualization project for Vital Signs, an NGO based in Tanzania. The project aimed to monitor water gauging stations in the SAGCOT district using sensor data collected over 40 years. Aurelia built the map using CartoDB and connected the sensor data to specific locations, enabling users to view station information and toggle between geo layers and line graphs for datasets associated with those stations. The visualization includes a "heartbeat" concept, where the map displays the natural breath and health of the globe as it grows, and Aurelia aimed to make something that gives data some kind of kinetics or interactive pulse without wasting anyone's time.

Diego "Kartones" will be giving a tech intro to CartoDB at the next LocationTech Meetup in Madrid, where attendees can learn about CartoDB internals and its applications for mapping projects of varying complexity. The event is scheduled for October 21st from 6:30 PM to 8:30 PM at MediaLab Prado. LocationTech is a vendor-neutral community that hosts technology projects and provides services to foster an open-source community and commercial products and services ecosystem, supported by the Eclipse Foundation as a not-for-profit member corporation.

We're excited to introduce Andy Eschbacher, a newcomer to our team based in New York's Williamsburg neighborhood. Andy comes from the Midwest, where he developed good manners and an approachable demeanor, despite having lived in multiple places throughout his life. He holds two master's degrees in mathematical physics from the University of Texas in Austin and the University of Edinburgh in Scotland. In his free time, Andy enjoys biking in Central Park and visiting the Brooklyn Botanic Gardens. As a member of our team, he looks forward to applying his analytical skills to develop unique visualizations using CartoDB.

CartoDB has removed its table limit restriction on the cloud platform, now offering unlimited tables for students and educators, allowing them to upload datasets without worrying about storage space. This change aims to foster creativity in education by providing a more flexible environment for mapping and data manipulation. With this update, users can build their own visualization archive, track progress, and showcase student work, while also integrating the platform into course plans with ease. The move is part of CartoDB's growing community, which includes students, educators, researchers, developers, and designers working together to create advanced maps.