Who doesn’t like a little instant gratification? Let’s get started on our own map, shall we?
Before you start:
- You’ll need to have a Google Account to use Fusion Tables, so create a free account if you don’t have one.
- Prepare a dataset with location information to import into Fusion Tables. You can use comma-separated files (.csv), Microsoft Excel files (.xls, .xlsx), an OpenDocument Spreadsheet (.ods), Keyhole Markup Language (.kml) or data already in a Google Spreadsheet.
1. Go to
http://www.google.com/fusiontables/ and log into your Google Account.
2. Click the
New Table button to get a drop-down menu and choose
Import Table.
3. Specify the file you’d like to upload. For this example, I’m using a sample Google Spreadsheet of my nonprofit’s locations with a column for each type of additional information that I want to associate with the locations.
Once you’ve selected the file click
Next. The next two steps allow you to select which columns you’d like to import and add attributes. Proceed through the steps and click
Finish.
4. You will now see your data displayed as a table.
Fusion Tables tries to recognize columns with locations during import and automatically categorize them as location data. You can skip ahead to step 5 to try this out, but if for some reason Fusion Tables didn’t recognize the correct location column, you’ll need to set it manually. To set the locaiton column manually, click
Edit, then
Modify columns. Select the appropriate column and set type to
Location. Save your changes.
5. You are now one step away from your map! Click the
Visualize menu and select
Map. Fusion Tables should now geocode the location information in the column you’ve specified and create your map.
6. Now the fun really begins. You can use the options above your map to
customize your info windows and make them more appealing (add links, select which fields appear, etc.). You can make your info window content more rich by including
images, videos,
data charts and more. Next you might want to configure your placemark style by changing their color or icon, or using one of the other style options.
Note: If you have polygon or line data in a GIS shapefile or KML file, you can also add and style in Fusion Tables. Just import your KML file the same way you imported a spreadsheet, or use shapescape to import a GIS shapefile.
7. Once you are satisfied with your map, click
Get embeddable link for the code to embed it in your organization’s website.
If you’d like step-by-step instructions, you can find them in the
Google Earth Outreach "Fusion Mapper" tutorial. Once you’ve mastered the basics, there are a many more things you can do with Fusion Tables. Check out the
Google Fusion Tables Example Gallery and the tutorials in the
Fusion Tables Help Center for inspiration and guidance. To add options for users to search your map or use a drop down menu to filter results on your map, check out the
FusionTablesLayer Builder.
I hope this Fusion Tables map primer will help get your mapping creative juices flowing! For more tutorials and resources, see the
Google Earth Outreach website.
Posted by Raleigh Seamster, Google Earth Outreach Team
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