Cloudera Docs

Basic interactive maps

CDP Data Visualization enables you to create a basic Interactive Map visual.

The following steps demonstrate how to create an interactive map visual on the dataset National Geographic Features. The data for this dataset came from the United States Board on Geographic Names; we recommend choosing the download of the AllStates zip file because it is easier to process. For an overview of shelves that specify this visual, see Shelves for interactive visuals. Additionally, you may wish to use Feature Class Definitions and State Abbreviations to supplement the dataset.

  1. Start a new visual based on dataset National Geographic Features dataset; see Creating a visual.
  2. In the visuals menu, find and click Interactive Map.
  3. Note that the shelves of the visual changed. They are now Geo, Measures, Dimensions, Tooltips, and Filters.

    The only mandatory shelf for interactive map visuals is Geo.

    shelves of interactive map visual type
  4. Populate the shelves from the available fields (Dimensions, Measures, and so on) in the Data menu.
    1. Under Measures, select prim-lat-dec and drag it over the Geo shelf on the main part of the screen. Drop to add it to the shelf.

      Cast this to the appropriate Geo Type: click the filed on the shelf, and in the Field Properties menu, select Change Type, and select Latitude.

    2. Under Measures, select prim_long_dec, and drag it over the Geo shelf on the main part of the screen. Drop to add it to the shelf.

      Cast this to the appropriate Geo Type: click the filed on the shelf, and in the Field Properties menu, select Change Type, and select Logitude.

    Notice that the two converted measurements have a (globe) icon tag. This indicates that these fields can be 'understood' as geographic fields.

    See Change type and Geo data type.

  5. Under Dimensions, select feature_id, and drag it over the Measures shelf. Drop it on the shelf.

    Change the aggregation from sum(feature Id) to count(Feature Id), by selecting Aggregates Count.

    If you leave the Measures shelf empty, the system uses the value of 1, and does not require an aggregate.

  6. Add the following fields to the Filters shelf:
    • Field feature_class, set to Woods
    • Field sate_alpha, set to CA
  7. Click Refresh Visual.
  8. The visual appears.

    The one we have here is a Google INEGI map.

  9. Notice that in this representation, there is noticeable overlap on the Heatmap. However, you can see the boundaries of each region by hovering the pointer over a section of the map. The total count of measurements in each region is in the circle inside the region. This comes from the Cluster. Both Heatmap and Cluster are on my default.
  10. To see more detail, manipulate the map through magnification changes. You can also click on the map and manually 'pan' it to the area of interest. The following image shows that the regions automatically adjust into smaller sections, and you can see both greater detail and more individual 'totals'.
  11. The 'interactive' part of this visual is that after clicking on a region to zoom-in and reposition, to the level of an individual marker, you can enable click behavior.
  12. Change the title to California Woods.
  13. At the top left corner of the Visual Designer, click Save.

There are many interesting visualization options. To change the map server, or the base map from Google to Mapbox, see Chaging the map server to interactive maps. To configure the various options, see these articles:

  • Map server
  • Map style
  • Choropleth
  • Heatmap
  • Cluster
  • Circles
  • Routes and pins