Data Types, Classification, & Visualization
This module is all about data! What is data and how do we represent it in a computer? First, we will focus on data more broadly, then we will take a look at what makes spatial data so special in the next module.
Learning Outcomes
- What is Data?
- Overview of different types of phenomena
- Discussion of data types & measurement scales
- Overview of different data classification methods
- Discussion of descriptive statistics
- Supervised vs. unsupervised methods
- How do they relate to data types
- Why classify data
- Data normalization methods
- Pointers for effective data visualization
- Importance of color choice
- Clean, effective displays of information
- Use Simply Analytics to download Canadian census data
- Apply different data classification methods
- Practice creating effective visualizations
What is Data?
Before we think about how we represent data in a GIS specifically, we need to take a step back and think about what data is?
Data Classification
In order to visualize and share our data effectively, we usually have to simplify it first. For this, we rely on a number of different data classification methods.
Data Visualization
It is important to display your results in an clean, transparent, and accessible way.