Mapping the NCDD Comunity, Part 1

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A few modest contributions to the blogosphere from Andy Fluke,
co-founder of the National Coalition
for Dialogue & Deliberation.

Fri Dec 26

Mapping the NCDD Comunity, Part 1

One of the primary initiatives NCDD will be pursuing in 2009 will be to find better ways to highlight the work of both its members and its community. I’ve spent the day exploring the many ways we can map the work of our community by leveraging the power of Google Maps and I’ve found there are some pretty interesting tools to do so.

More importantly, choosing to use Google Maps allows us to leverage several collaboration tools available with Google Maps, Google Docs and Gmail. Below are two relatively easy ways to generate custom maps, and some thoughts and resources on advanced map-making with Google.

My Maps

The easiest way to create custom maps with Google Maps is to do it on the Google Maps site using the My Maps feature. This requires a Google account (which will make other tools available as well, especially Google Spreadsheet which we’ll need for the next item). These maps live on the Google website, but they’re easy to create (just click on a spot on the custom map and add information) and, more importantly, can be created collaboratively with others with Google accounts.

Here’s an example of a public map of all NCDD National Conferences that I just created. Maps can also be set to unlisted and shared only with those you wish to see it. Update: Map seems to have disappeared from server.

Custom Maps Using Google Spreadsheets

As I eluded to before, Google Spreadsheets come in handy in the creation of custom maps that can be displayed on other websites. This type of custom map uses the Google Maps API and Google Spreadsheets API, though the folks at Google have created a very handy tool to help keep things simple.

Using a Google Spreadsheet to store title, location and description of the items you wish to map, the custom map tool provided by Google will automatically generate a sample map based on criteria you set in a form — along with the code you need to add the map to a webpage on your site. Since the code provided directly accesses the spreadsheet file everytime it is used, you can just keep updating the spreadsheet with new information and it will appear on the map.

I’m going to test this out by mapping upcoming events in the dialogue and deliberation community. (Link to come.)

Exploring Maps with Large Data Sets

But the true power of Google Maps lies in this web tool’s API (Application Programming Interface). With it, and XML-based KML mark-up language (used with both Google Maps and Google Earth), some very sophisticated maps can be created. I’m just beginning to understand the power and limitations (like needing accurate latitude and longitude) of this tool, but with a little patience some pretty cool maps can be created.