This afternoon’s conversation of GIS with Dr. Walker brought out a lot of great ways that GIS can be used to visualize and interpret data. I just wanted to share a few links to help folks get their feet wet.

If you are using GIS to collect/visualize data, you might want to play with Google Fusion Tables. These are basically database tools that can be used to export a KML file that can be viewed in Earth or Maps. If you have existing data, just import it to get started. They even have occasional grants to help pay for those pricey software developers!

If you want to make a tours or maps for end users, check out the Google Spreadsheet Mapper tool. Google provides spreadsheet templates that you fill in, which in turn updates a Earth layer or Map. Here’s a simple example I’ve done recently for a client that maps local chapters.

Here are some cool examples to get you started! Happy mapping!