To create category maps with numeric columns, select 'Category' as the quantification method. This allows for visual grouping of geospatial features under different categories, such as stores by branch or tweets by term. Coloring points, polygons, or lines depends on a string column is also possible, but it's recommended to limit data to top 10 categories for better visualization results. The CartoCSS panel and TurboCarto repo provide further insights into the process behind creating category maps.