1. Introduction: Lab Workbook
Fusion Tables
Introduction: Lab Workbook
John Little
Data Analysis & Management Analyst
Brandeleone Data & GIS Lab (226 Perkins)
Duke University Libraries
September, 2013

2. Brandaleone Data & GIS Lab
Contact Us:
Location: Perkins Library, 2nd Floor
Hours: Walk-in, M-F / 8-5
OR, Anytime the Library is open (with ID)
Walk-in, Attendant Hours:
Workshops:
Feedback on this workshop
Services:
Data analytics software and support
Statistical programming support
Robust computers with large dual monitors
GIS and mapping
Visualizations (mapping or statistical graphics)
Data management planning
Identifying data sources
Bloomberg financial data terminals

3. Google Fusion Tables What is Fusion Tables? How are they used?
A cloud database service by Google that helps you manipulate large quantities of data
Easily merge your data with others
Easily collaborate with others
Intuitive, if rudimentary, GIS mapping combined with easy cloud-sharing (e.g. embedding in blogs)
Charting and plotting
Easily filtering or creating shareable sub-views of your data
Best Characteristics
Sharing, Mapping (geolocating address or latitude/longitude data), Merging
What’s it Like?
Looks like a spreadsheet, but it’s NOT
Sometimes, before import, you’ve got to clean your data. (e.g. OpenRefine or even Excel)
Import structured data (rows and columns)
Sort data
Faceting
Create custom views
Prerequisites
A Google Account
A google app: Go to “Google Drive” > Create > Connect to more apps > search: “Fusion” > Connect to “Fusion Tables”

4. Fusion Tables - Tour Tour Bicycle Theft Map - Raleigh 2012
data from OpenRaleigh Data Portal
Click “source” in the legend to see the Fusion Table
Notice Geocoding/Location, Filtering and Alternate maps
Yellow highlights means a geocodable/recognizable field

5. Fusion Tables - Tour Adding Your Own Data
LA-Politicians in Baton Rouge -- Where do they live
Data can be imported from hard drive e.g. CSV, spreadsheet (Google, Excel, etc.)
Or existing, shareable Fusion Tables
Show:
Card
Map
Card 2
Filtering
Sharing
Summary
Map Layout
Rows (Column header / Change)
File: merge, Geocode, import rows, share
+ > Add Chart
Mergable Data
Merge Table - Louisiana Counties ShapeFile

6. Fusion Tables - Hands-on
Login to your Google Account (or create one)
Create a Fusion Table
Go to “Google Drive” > Create > Connect to more apps > search: “Fusion” > Connect to “Fusion Tables”
Click “Create”
In a separate tab, open this Google Spreadsheet dataset -- and copy the long URL
Go back to “Google Drive”
Click “Google Spreadsheets” in the Import dialogue box, then paste the long URL into the “Or paste a web address here” field
Click “Select”
Wait (directions continue on next screen of this workbook)

7. Fusion Tables - Hands-on
Notice the features in this screen
Click Next
Notice the fields in the next screen then click Finish
Notice the Yellow highlighted fields whcih means those are recognized as potential “locations” which can be “geocoded”. You can change the columns into “location” fields. And you can set a “2-column” latitude / longitude location field

8. Fusion Tables - Hands-on
Click the “Map of City” option
Click the “down triangle”
Choose “Select Location”
Choose “FT address”
WAIT as the Geocoding takes place
Zoom in on Louisiana
Click [browser] refresh and reselect “FT Address” as part of the “Select Location”

9. Fusion Tables - Hands-on
Filter to Share a Custom View
Click the “red + ” to add a tab
Select “Add row layout”
Click “down triangle” Filter” and select “Party Code”
Select the “N” checkbox
Now you can share just this view of the data, from the “down triangle” in this active tab, you would choose “Publish”. You can also rename the tab header from the same “down triangle”

10. Fusion Tables - Hands-on
Customize Card View
Click the “red + ” to add a tab
Select “Add card layout”
If it’s still open you can close (“x-out”) the Party Code Filter on the lefthand sidebar
From the “down triangle” of the active “Card 2” tab, choose “Change card layout”
Select “Office Title”, “Candidate Name”, “City2”, and “State2” -- this will require unselecting the other columns.
Change the “Down” field to: 6
Change the “Sort by” field to “Candidate Name”
Click “Save”
Note:
Compare with the “Cards 1” tab
You can still add filters
You can still “scroll” through the cards
You can also “Customize” the output by going back to “Change card layout” and choosing the “Custom” tab

11. Fusion Tables - Hands-on
Using multiple filters
Click the “red + ” to add a tab
Select “Add map”
From the “down triangle”, set “Select location” to “FT Address”
Zoom [out] to get a get a good view of the state
Click the “blue Filter” button
Select “Party Code”
Click the “blue Filter” button again
Select “Sex”
Using both filters, show the distribution of Male (M) Democrats (D)
Click on any dot in the map to engage a balloon of the background data
Note:
You can use more than one selection per filter. e.g. you can select Male Democrats and Male Not-affiliated (N)

12. Fusion Tables - Hands-on
Explore Public Data Tables -- for potential merge
Select “File” > New table …
In the “Or search public data tables” box, type “Louisiana Counties” and click the magnifying glass
In the lefthand sidebar, select “Fusion Tables”
Click the first entry. This is a shapefile of Census data for counties in Louisiana
Click “Switch to new look” in the upper-right
Click the red + tab, and “Add map”
Wait for the county shapefiles to appear
Note:
This data will not merge because there is no common merge component: e.g. “County Name”
Note you do not have to limit your exploration to only Fusion Tables. The Fusion Tables search tool had other options including “Web” and “Web Tables”

13. Resources Introductory Tutorials and Guides
Video Introduction (6:00 on YouTube)
Google’s Introduction
Google’s Basic Tutorials & Extending Knowledge “helps”
Intro from Penn State’s Department of Geography
Google’s Fusion Tables Workshop
Article on relating spatial and attribute data from the US Census Bureau (Cartographic Perspectives - the journal of NACIS / Michael Peterson, Kelly S. Koepsell, Gabriel Pereda, and Spencer Trowbridge)
Blog Post on shape files, KML, mouseovers (Michael Henry Keller)
Mark’s LibGuide on the topic
More listsings, including links to resource data and examples can be found in this blog post. For more discussions of Fusion Tables and examples of embedded maps see this set of tagged posts.

14. Thanks For Coming Please give feedback on the live workshop
Questions to:
Data Analytics & Management Analyst
Data & GIS Lab
Room 226 Perkins Library
Duke University Libraries