Tutorials > Google Fusion > Readying Data and Uploading
Readying Data
1. Before launching into uploading data, it pays to work with your spreadsheet outside of Fusion first to get it in the proper format.
This can be done in Excel or an OpenOffice produce like Calc, or in whatever preferred program will enable you to modify table data and save it in CSV (comma separated values, aka comma delimited values), TSV (tab separated values), TXT (simple text often with tab separated data), or Excel form. The tutorial here will assume you are working with a table saved in CSV form, which can be done by opening the table in your spreadsheet program, selecting "Save As" and saving it as a .csv file. Fusion can handle any of the file forms named above, but for simplicity stick with CSV.
2. For this tutorial, you can work with your own data or try using the following (completely fictional) spreadsheet as an example. The tutorial will be based on the example. Click on the link and save the file buildings.csv it to a location where you can find it. DOWNLOAD DATA.
Open the table and take a look at its contents. You'll find the following variables (column heads) describing a set of 20 buildings groups:
3. Rules for the format of your data to help with plotting locations in the Maps View
- ID_number = variable assigning a unique identifying number to each building group
- Pred_buildingtype = variable giving the predominant type of buildings (mixed, residential, commercial) in the building group
- Occupancy = variable giving the number of human occupants in the building group
- Numb_buildings = variable giving the number of buildings in the building group
- City = the city in which the building group is located
- Country = the country in which the building group is located
3. Rules for the format of your data to help with plotting locations in the Maps View
- When it comes to geocoding (i.e. finding a location on the map for each location given in your rows), Fusion seems to work best with locations given in STREET ADDRESS, CITY, COUNTRY or CITY, COUNTRY or CITY, STATE given in precisely that order in the same cell. Thus:
NOT
NOT
- Fusion privileges U.S. locations for non-specific inputs over those outside the U.S. Thus, if you give it the location Dublin, it will likely plot Dublin, Ohio rather than Dublin, Ireland. You need to specify "Dublin, Ireland" in a single column.
- You can edit and create new columns in Fusion, including columns with calculated values based on other columns. However, if any of these computations are complex (i.e more than sums, multiplying, dividing), you may want to calculate and create those values in your spreadsheet prior to uploading to Fusion. For example, if you wanted to group some of the qualitative variables in the example spreadsheet so that any Residential, Mixed, or Commercial building types with an occupation density (Occupancy / Numb-buildings) higher than 10 as "Crowded," you would be better served to calculate and then code those values in a new column in your original spreadsheet program.
5. Notice in the sample table that the Country variable is given in a column separate from City. If the table were to be uploaded and geocoded in Fusion, it would recognize only the cities as a location field and would place the pushpin for Alexandria, Egypt at Alexandria, VA:
Therefore, on your downloaded buildings.csv file, combine the two locational columns under a single column titled gcity in which city and country are listed together (If you have hundreds of records and do not want to do this by hand, use a shortcut such as this one for Excel):
Save the file to make sure the changes are in effect for upload.
Uploading Tables
1. Fusion operates right out of your gmail account, so log in to your university or Google account. From the top banner click on "More" options, and from the drop down menu select "Even More."
From the list of tools on the following page, scroll to the bottom and select Fusion Tables. On the following page, select "Create a new table" from the Fusion Tables menu:
On the import screen, select "Browse" to select a file "From this Computer," or if you have a spreadsheet already available on your Google Drive, then you can pull it up from that location. If you have any special characters in your dataset other than plain letters and numbers, it is recommended that you select "auto-detect" from the Character encoding option to ensure everything display properly. Click next.
You will next have a chance to preview your data. If for some reason your column headings weren't in the first row in the original spreadsheet, you have the option to change it so that all line up properly. If all checks out, click next. In the next option page, you have a chance to enter your name as author, write a description of the data, and give it a title. Enter anything you want here and click finish.
Fusion will load the table in a simple Rows view, and will highlight in yellow any values it thinks are locations:
2. You can prompt Fusion to geocode your locations by either selecting File >> Geocode from the menu, or by clicking on the "Map of the City" view tab and from the dropdown menu, choosing Select location >> gcity. A geocode progress box will pop up. Set it to geocode gcity (or whatever locational column in your data you want to see mapped).
Select "Start", and allow Fusion to find locations. Sometimes Google will not display your pushpins at all zoom levels, so if you don't see your marks at first, try zooming in.
The result will be a map of pushpins with pop-ups listing the row values for that given record that appear when the location is clicked:
Select "Start", and allow Fusion to find locations. Sometimes Google will not display your pushpins at all zoom levels, so if you don't see your marks at first, try zooming in.
The result will be a map of pushpins with pop-ups listing the row values for that given record that appear when the location is clicked:
Click on the dropdown menu from the "Map of {variable}" tab to rename the map, to delete it, or to change its style, etc.