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“Turning Geo-Data into Geo-Visualizations”

When tasked with displaying geo-data, most developers decide to put some big red markers on an embeddable Google Map and call it a day. If want to create maps that are more beautiful, more interactive, and more usable, this session is for you.


Abstract:

This session is an introduction to the tools available for creating beautiful, interactive geo-visualizations for the web.

New tools and libraries have lowered the barrier of entry for creating useful maps. What was once exclusively the realm of traditional geographers is now accessible by almost any web developer.

We’ll cover the meat of a normal web map stack, starting on the front-end with a library called Polymaps used to display custom map layers, all the way to the back-end with a library called TileStache used to create those custom map layers.

By the end of the session, you’ll understand most of the important pieces that go into creating large-scale geo-visualizations like Trulia’s crime maps.