Google Fusion Table Basics with IU'sCushman Collection
Google Fusion Tables is a fairly simple way to go from spreadsheet to datavisualization. In this tutorial, you'll upload a spreadsheet containing information
about the University of Indiana's Cushman Collection of photographs (which youcan find at bit.ly/cushmancollection) and use it to create a map and some charts.

Open Google fusion tables

Go to tables.googlelabs.com

Google Fusion Table Basics with IU's Cushman Collection - 1

Miriam Posner | CC-BY

Click on "Create a Fusion Table" and sign in with your Google
account

If you don't have a Google account, see Miriam for a throwaway account. Once
you're in, click on Choose File and then select the Cushman-Collection file. For
Separator Character, keep the options as they are (with Comma selected) andthen click Next. On the next screen, click Next again, and finally, click Finish.

Google Fusion Table Basics with IU's Cushman Collection - 2

Miriam Posner | CC-BY

Hey, that's kind of cool.

The next screen shows you your spreadsheet just as it was when you were looking
at it in Excel — except Google has automatically pulled in thumbnail images for all
the direct links to photographs.

Google Fusion Table Basics with IU's Cushman Collection - 3

Miriam Posner | CC-BY

Check out a map of locations

Click on the Map of City and State tab, but — IMPORTANT — click on "Pause
Geocoding" on the window that pops up. In order to place your locations on themap, you need latitudes and longitudes. Google is trying to be helpful by retrieving
these for you. But that will take a long time, and actually your spreadsheet alreadycontains this information. So we need to inform Google of this.

Google Fusion Table Basics with IU's Cushman Collection - 4

Miriam Posner | CC-BY

On the "Location" dropdown, click "Geocoordinates"

That way Google will use the latitude and longitude data you've already provided.

Google Fusion Table Basics with IU's Cushman Collection - 5

Miriam Posner | CC-BY

Hey, you have a map!

Pretty cool. You can click on each of the points to see which photo was taken
there. Play with the various options to see what you get.

Share, if you want.

You can share this map if you want! Just click on the Share button and share themap the same way you'd share a Google doc. You can also embed the map on awebsite by clicking on Tools and then Publish.
Google Fusion Table Basics with IU's Cushman Collection - 6

Miriam Posner | CC-BY

Make some graphs and charts.

Let's look at some other views of the same data. Click on the red "plus" sign on thetabs menu and select Add Chart.

Google Fusion Table Basics with IU's Cushman Collection - 7

Miriam Posner | CC-BY

Make a bar chart.

Click on the bar chart icon and for Category, select Genre 1. Be sure to uncheck"Value: IU Archives Number" and do check the Summarize data checkbox. (Aneasier way to create a summary bar chart is just to choose the Summarize option
when you're opening a new tab — but this way we can switch among differentchart types.)

Google Fusion Table Basics with IU's Cushman Collection - 8

Miriam Posner | CC-BY

Filter your data.

Fusion Tables allows you to drill down into your data by filtering it. Try adding aCity, State filter.

Google Fusion Table Basics with IU's Cushman Collection - 9

Miriam Posner | CC-BY

Play with other chart types.

Use these charts to explore your dataset as you try to get a sense of its contours.
Pay attention to what the data can and can't tell you about the collection ofphotographs.

Google Fusion Table Basics with IU's Cushman Collection - 10

Miriam Posner | CC-BY