Author: Hannah

How to create a choropleth map in QGIS

1. Format your data. Create a csv and csvt. Save with the same file names, same location (ie. test.csv and test.csvt).

2. Bring your datafile to QGIS. Drag and drop works.

3. Merge your files. Double click on your base layer (.shp file). The Layer Properties window will open. Go to Joins.


Click on the green + button at the bottom of the window. A pop-up box will appear. Choose the layers you want to join, and the fields you want to be merged. The Join field and Target field should have have similar data so they can be merged. For my dataset, I used country names as the point of merger. Hit OK.

4. Create an editable layer of your merged layers. To do this, right click on your .shp file, choose Save As, then go ahead and create your ESRI file.

5. Colorize your map. Open Layer Properties of new layer. Go to Style, click on the dropdown (default is usually Single symbol) and choose Graduated.

6. Customize. Choose which data column you want to use, toggle methods between Color and Size. For this we want to use Color. Choose the Color ramp you prefer. If you click on the dropdown menu, there should more colors to choose from. 

7. To classify your data, choose the mode you want to use. I used Pretty Breaks for this one, and 5 classes. Then click Classify and it will show you the symbol and values. Hit apply, and this will show on your map. Other mode of classification are Equal Interval, Quantile, Standard Deviation, Natural Breaks.


Note: The countries with values are not colored accordingly, I added an underlying layer for the other countries that don’t have values.


8. If you want an SVG of your map, go to Project > Print Composer, or simply Command + P.  To print the map, click on the button that looks like a  blank canvas with green + button (left hand side, sixth icon from from the top). To save as SVG, click on the icon which looks like a canvas with a snowflake. If you want to print the key/legend, click on the icon with colorful boxes, third icon down from Print.



Here’s how to use the print composer:

Let me know if you have questions! 
Hx

Skill share session 3: Infogr.am

Data Journalism PH is still underway — and for week three of our remote skill share session, Nika Aleksejeva introduces us to Infogr.am, a fun and powerful web-based data visualisation tool. That is quite a combination! Another plus is, you can sign up for free.

Nika did not stop at showing us what Infogr.am can do, but discussed with the participants the do’s and don’ts of dataviz.

My favourite takeaway? The reminder to keep it simple. This is the dataviz version of news writing’s keep it brief and concise.  Chart junk is my weakness, but I’ve been more conscious about this, thanks to reading the Strunk and White of dataviz aka Edward Tufte’s The Visual Display of Quantitative Information.

 

Nika’s presentation drove the point ‘less is more’  home. The impulse is to include everything and anything, but instead of telling a story, you might end up just confusing your readers.

After the skill share, it was hands-on time. I always feel so giddy about the hands-on part I feel like a child in a sweetshop. Here are my first couple of charts, but this is a work in progress!

I’m playing around with Infogr.am and trying to figure out how to customise the increments (if I can). Ideally, I’d like to keep them between 4-8 (this is my FT persona talking) so it would be simpler.

Here is the remote session recording if you’re interested to learn more.

If you want more dataviz discussion and tips, Data Journalism PH has a resource page where all our skill shares are accessible.

Hx

You let him go

He sent me a message a little past midnight, saying he was sad and needed to talk. Cussing the ungodly hours and the distance, he said we’d have to settle on synchronised drinking via Skype.

When I answered his call, ‘Let her go’ was playing on my Mac. Instantly he said – ‘I hate that song.’ I quipped back that I love it, but something in his voice, not sure if it was bitterness or sadness, made me stop the track.

He wouldn’t spit out what the damned thing was wrong, but he said it was complicated and I wouldn’t want to hear it. I told him to try me. I am the Queen of complicated . I couldn’t also shake off the feeling that he wanted to share, but was hesitant to. For the love of all that’s holy, he eventually started talking. He told me about you.

Now hold your horses, girl. I am not the other woman. I’m that woman whom guys are comfy calling ‘dude.’ I’m that someone whom they feel comfy sharing emotions with, without losing their perceived masculinity. Do not lump me in the ‘bitches’ category.

He kept on insisting it was a long story, and that basically you split up. I coaxed him to give me the details, cos if you aren’t yet aware, ‘the devil is in the details.’ And I kinda had a hunch that if he didn’t want to talk, he wouldn’t have orchestrated the synchronised drinking shit. I believe you know how much he hates drinking.

For three hours of my mobile data’s crappy connection and a few refills of my vodka, I lost count how many times I heard ‘I love her’ and ‘there’s just no one else for me’. He was devastated when you lumped him in the ‘cheater’ and ‘liar’ categories, when in fact, he has straightened up his ways every since he met you.

At one point, he reckoned to apologise just to have you back – but he wouldn’t want to admit something that he did not do. He also didn’t want to let go of whom he has become every since he started being with you.

No, he is not perfect – he never will be. No one else will be, but neither will you. You told him you loved him, and my ears are now bleeding for the nth time I heard how much he loves you, too.

He enumerated the reasons why he thinks it is over. He kept on asking himself if he loved you enough. He was micro analysing all the things he did say and did not say. He was scrutinising the things he did and did not do. He was taking all the blame, but I told him it takes two people to dance. And you know what broke my heart, it was when he said, ‘maybe I just stopped dancing.’ But was it him, or was it you?

There’s a part of me that says it’s over, but there’s the bit which keeps on reminding me that I love her, he said. I answered that a friend once told me ‘when you feel it’s over, it is over.’ He considered it for two seconds flat, but then said he thought you were the one. And we were back to square one.

From one woman to another, do not let your insecurities cloud your judgement, and maybe bring the drama two notches down, or maybe five. But you have, or you once had, a good guy whom you love and who loves you, but you started throwing accusations around. He is hurting, and I know you are, too.

When he got all these emotions out, and was starting to sound so resigned, I told him it was time he slept on it. He thanked me for listening to his rants and whatnot, but I told him that’s what friends do. I might have lost three hours of a good night’s sleep, something I rarely have the chance to enjoy. Just so you know, between you and me, you just lost so much more. You let him go.
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