by Chris Henrick @clhenrick

Why Maps?

What's the big friggin' deal?

Maps + Web = Really Cool

Maps + Web + Data = Really Really Cool

examples...

what's going on here?

the technology...

data + tiles + server + API

Data + location + geometry = geospatial data

Points

Lines

Polygons

Weird Formats?

Mostly Vector.

You know, like illustrator.

But with a backend
(data)

+ front end
(visual)

in one.

Why CartoDB?

It takes care of all the nitty gritty server side stuff for you.

Lets you easily overlay spatial data onto a map.

Allows for the rapid prototyping of cartographic visualizations.

Makes it easy to publish and share your maps!

Allows for analysis with geospatial data.

And you don't have to install anything (!!!)

Disclaimer: there are other options too...

Leaflet, MapBox, TileMill, D3JS, etc...

But CartoDB packages some of these together for you

CartoDB's database:
PostGIS

CartoDB's data styling:
CartoCSS

CartoDB's tile renderer:
Mapnik

CartoDB's map viewing API:
Leaflet

But you don't really need to know all that...

But if you'd like to, you should come to ...

Let's make a map!