Data Visualization Lab

I spent a little time looking over some visualization tools. This website has a very comprehensive list of all sorts of data visualization programs. I had a lot of fun playing around with these programs. Here is my review of a few of them.

Diigo
I have some experience using diigo. I like the toolbar ap where I can quickly add and categorize bookmarks. I can bookmark from either of my laptops or even from my iPhone.

Bubbl.us
One tool I tried was Bubbl.us It was an easy and fun way to create "mind webs." It was a breeze to figure out how to organize my thoughts, change colors, and even share with my friends. I just bought a project house in Detroit with my best friend. I was able to quickly make a web of what needs to be repaired next. It was fun to play around with the look, colors, size, and layout of the buttons. The one thing I would like to see added is the ability to add images.

Shape2Earth
Shape2Earth is a GIS interface for Google Earth. It is not free but my school is big into GIS so I will pitch this idea to them.

BatchGeo
Batch Geo is a program that creates interactive google maps from spreadsheets.



I had several "ah ha" moments with this lab. I was excited when I learned I could access my diigo bookmarks on my phone. Now when I'm stuck somewhere with time to kill I can use my phone to read articles or websites I bookmarked earlier. Another "ah ha" moment came when I thought of a new way to build concept maps with my students. Bubbl.us would be a fun way to teach a lesson in class. I envision starting with the main topic on the board and working as a class to create a concept map.