Introduction to CartoDB Woodstock Digital Media Festival

This introductory workshop was given by Andrew Hill on November 7, 2014 at Woodstock Digital Media Festival. As taught, it was 2 hours long.

Screen captures from Workshop

I’ll reupload part one on Monday, it looks like it was too big for Vimeo right now. Part I should be okay though!

Who am I

Brief introduction to CartoDB

  • Tour of dashboard
  • Common data
  • Uploading data
  • Tour of table and map view
  • Publishing maps
  • Public profile

Creating your accounts

Set you up with accounts here, https://cartodb.com/signup?plan=academy. This will give you a free upgrade to our student plan, since today, we are all students :)

Your first map in 30 seconds!

Here, we’ll make a map of US counties. You can grab the data from Common Data in your account, you can find the link to Common Data up top.

common data

  • Table and map view
  • Styling data
  • Thematic maps!

Onward!

Your second map!

How to import from a URL. First right click and ‘copy’ this link

Let’s customize our maps

  • Basemaps
  • Wizards
  • Pop ups
  • Publishing

Publishing maps

  • Visualizations
  • Labels and annotations
  • Layout
  • Publishing options

Your final map!

Let’s import and play with the following,

Indian Battles

If you are interested, here is the source

Now, let’s tell a story with it using another tool, Odyssey.js

Markdown

Header

-title: "A history of Indian battles"
-author: "You"

Body

body text

A history of battles

great plains

Explore some of the history of conflict with Native Americans through history.

Battle of Fallen Timbers

Location of battle

1794

General Anthony Wayne (1745-96) led American troops in a battle against a confederation of Native Americans whose leaders included Chief Little Turtle (Miami), Chief Blue Jacket (Shawnee) and Chief Buckongahelas (Lenape). The fighting took place on the Maumee River, near present-day Toledo. source

The battle of Fallen Timbers had ramifications that stretched all the way to Europe. The Treaty of Greenville, negotiated between Wayne and Little Turtle the following year, secured most of what is now Ohio for American settlement. source

Battle of the Little Bighorn

The Custer Fight

1876

The Battle of the Little Bighorn, commonly referred to as Custer’s Last Stand, was an armed engagement between combined forces of the Lakota, Northern Cheyenne, and Arapaho tribes, against the 7th Cavalry Regiment of the United States Army.

It was an overwhelming victory for the Lakota, Northern Cheyenne, and Arapaho, led by several major war leaders, including Crazy Horse and Chief Gall, inspired by the visions of Sitting Bull. source

Wounded Knee Massacre

Wounded Knee Survivors

Black Elk - medicine man - Oglala Lakota

“I did not know then how much was ended. When I look back now from this high hill of my old age, I can still see the butchered women and children lying heaped and scattered all along the crooked gulch as plain as when I saw them with eyes young. And I can see that something else died there in the bloody mud, and was buried in the blizzard. A people’s dream died there. It was a beautiful dream … the nation’s hope is broken and scattered. There is no center any longer, and the sacred tree is dead.” source

Explore further

Use the map below to explore a full set of battles in the early Americas. Click an point to see the description and date, and find links to search for more information.

Add your layer

Example:

-vizjson: "http://team.cartodb.com/api/v2/viz/a62ff17c-66a1-11e4-a6a3-0e853d047bba/viz.json"

Change a location

Use the interface.

  1. Zoom the map into the location of Fallen Timbers
  2. Select ‘add’ and Move map to current location

Custom basemap

Start with the interface button!

Okay, also check out this project, NYPL Map Warper

Tiles:

http://maps.nypl.org/warper/maps/tile/27562/{z}/{x}/{y}.png

Publishing

Click the airplane!