Summary and Setup

This module teaches how to turn data into clear, honest charts and maps. It is written for social scientists and other beginners, and combines design principles with hands-on practice in two free tools: Python in Google Colab and QGIS.

Episode	What you will learn	Tools
Introduction to Data Visualization	Why we visualize, how charts mislead, and design principles that apply to every figure	Python notebooks
Cartography Checklists	The questions to answer before making any map: audience, message, data, medium	Concepts
Fundamentals of Map Design	Map elements, color schemes, projections, thematic map types, normalization and classification	Concepts, Python and QGIS equivalents
Cartography in Python	Finished maps: layer order, labels with halos, basemaps, locator insets, scale bars, small multiples and export	Python notebooks
Cartography in QGIS	The same map with rule-based styling and labeling, a print layout with a locator inset, and export	QGIS
Accessibility in Map Design	Designing maps for people with color vision deficiency, testing palettes and writing alt text	QGIS and Python

The episodes are designed to be taken in order, but the concept episodes (Cartography Checklists and Fundamentals of Map Design) can be read on their own.

Prerequisite

Prerequisites

A Google account, to open the notebooks in Google Colab
QGIS installed on your computer (see the Setup instructions below)
New to QGIS? Work through the Foundations module’s Getting Started with QGIS episode first
For the notebooks: basic Python, such as running cells and working with a pandas DataFrame
No prior GIS or design experience is needed

All data used in this module is read directly from the web: the Introduction notebooks use datasets built into Plotly, and the Cartography episodes and the QGIS challenge in the Accessibility episode load small files from the Foundations and Case Studies modules. Learners never need to download data by hand.

This module is part of Enabling the Geospatial Turn in the Social Sciences, a set of training modules developed at Purdue University with support from the National Science Foundation.

This module uses two free tools:

Google Colab for the Python notebooks in the Introduction and Cartography in Python episodes. It runs in your web browser, so there is nothing to install.
QGIS for the Cartography in QGIS and Accessibility episodes. It is a desktop program you install once.

What you need

A Google account (for Colab)
A computer where you can install software (for QGIS)
Optional: a free Census API key for the optional Census section of notebook 1c. It arrives by email; click the activation link before using it.

Part 1: Google Colab

Click a notebook link in the Notebooks table of the Introduction episode. It opens in Colab.
Click File > Save a copy in Drive so your changes are kept.
Run cells from top to bottom: click a cell and press Shift + Enter.
If Colab warns that the notebook was not written by Google, click Run anyway.

The notebooks use datasets built into the Plotly library, so you never need to download data.

Part 2: Install QGIS

Follow the installation steps on the central Setup page of the Foundations module, which also shows the parts of the QGIS window. If QGIS is new to you, work through the Foundations module’s Getting Started with QGIS episode before the Accessibility episode.

Troubleshooting

Problem	Fix
QGIS will not open on macOS	Right-click the app, choose Open, then confirm
The Browser or Layers panel is missing	View > Panels, then tick the panel
A layer loaded from a web address shows nothing	Right-click the layer and choose Zoom to Layer; check that the address was pasted completely
The basemap is blank	Check your internet connection; XYZ basemaps need to be online
A Colab cell gives `NameError`	A cell above it was skipped; use Runtime > Run before
A Colab cell gives `ModuleNotFoundError`	Run the `!pip install` cell at the top of the notebook first

You are all set. Start with the first episode, Introduction to Data Visualization.