BatchGeo: a simple tool for visualizing point data
I would like to begin a series of “Maps for the Classroom: How To” blog posts that will share with readers different tips, trips, and tools that educators can use with little to no training to visualize spatial data. The first tool I would like to highlight is called BatchGeo. In CURVE this week, we had a student who came in and wanted to learn more about how to bring a spreadsheet of addresses into the ArcGIS environment. Well, as is not unusual for ArcMap, we ran into challenges when the geocode address tool kept giving us an error message. But never fear! BatchGeo is here! BatchGeo is a website that generates point based maps from Excel spreadsheets. Let me provide a little overview of the workflow this site: First thing to do is organize your spreadsheet in a way that allows BatchGeo to “talk” to the information. I suggest making column headers such as “Address” ,”City” ,”State” and “Zip Code”. You can also add additional information (some examples may be the name of the location or contact information for a business you’re representing)-this information will be displayed whenever you click on that location on your soon to be created map. When you’ve finished organizing all your information-all you have to do is copy and paste your spreadsheet into the box at the top of BatchGeo’s webpage. Then hit the “Validate & Set Options” button. BatchGeo typically is able to automatically detect which column is which, but to make … Continue reading