[RNLD] Creating linguistic maps

[Lauren Gawne]

Another option that's even less code-focused than Tilemill is CartoDB:
http://cartodb.com/

It allows you to input data, while Tilemill only allows for manipulation,
which means you can bypass a lot of the CartoCSS code. Having said that,
there is a lot of general support for Tilemill, and it makes quite good
maps (for examples of what I've used Tilemill for check out this map of
Nepal
<http://www.superlinguo.com/post/52576942373/this-weeks-software-suggestion-is-for-tilemill>
or the languages of QLD
<http://www.superlinguo.com/post/54377017229/although-the-artshack-mapping-workshop-was-a-few>
made with Aidan Wilson, Rosey Billington and others using Claire Bowern's
data
<http://anggarrgoon.wordpress.com/2009/06/22/more-fun-stuff-with-google-earth/>
).

I've run workshops on Tilemill before, and if there's any interest will be
happy to work on one for Tilemill or CartoDB for a future ICLDC or CoLang
or some such,

Cheers,

Lauren

On 23 September 2014 17:22, Tom Honeyman <t.honeyman at gmail.com> wrote:

> A source that may be interesting to some people on the list with a pacific
> focus is the shapefile here:
>
> http://ecai.org/austronesiaweb/PacificMaps.htm
>
> or more specifically here:
>
>
> http://ecai.org/austronesiaweb/Maps/languagemap_040429/languagemap_040429.zip
>
> I believe it is a vectorisation of the Wurm and Hattori maps. It is a
> little messy aligning language names to polygons, so it's a good idea to
> have the maps, or scans of the maps to consult. But if you're just after
> polygons then it would be okay.
>
> I've put TileMill on my todo list now (thanks Doug!), but I have
> successfully used the open source QGIS to make print-ready maps in the
> past. A simple workflow that worked for simple maps for me was to sketch
> the map in google earth and then load it in QGIS to make the print ready
> version.
>
> QGIS also allows you to connect to open map servers and lots of other
> public data from within the program. But it is not of the faint of heart -
> its a proper GIS platform.
>
> http://www.qgis.org/en/site/
>
> Having said that, TileMill looks pretty awesome, and much easier. If you
> have dabbled with ArcGIS in the past and not run away in horror (but then
> can't afford a license either), then have a look at QGIS.
>
> -tom
>
> On 23 Sep 2014, at 7:26 pm, Hiram Ring <hiram1 at e.ntu.edu.sg> wrote:
>
> Thanks Doug, Margaret, and Aidan!
>
>  I'm playing around with TileMill right now, and it looks quite good. I've
> managed to find some free shapeforms of world political boundaries at the
> country and state level, and layer them with different colors to set them
> apart. If you have any PDFs of courses or know of good tutorials for
> linguists, they'd be much appreciated.
>
> Best,
> Hiram
>
>
> On Sep 23, 2014, at 3:32 PM, Aidan Wilson wrote:
>
> +1 for tilemill, however a caution that the learning curve can be steep.
>
> At Melbourne University last year there were a couple of tilemill course
> for staff and students. The linguistics contingent was impressive. Layer
> data for various political boundaries can be found from a variety of online
> sources, and you can even create polygons in something like Google Earth or
> Google Maps and export them in a form that tilemill can import.
>
> The visual customisation is through cartoCSS, which is a specific
> cartographic implementation of CSS (as the name might suggest). The
> documentation of tilemill is also quite good and the online community of
> users is large enough that you should be able to solicit help for various
> aspects of the program.
>
> --
> Aidan Wilson
>
> School of Languages and Linguistics
> aidan.wilson at unimelb.edu.au
> 0428 458 969
>
> On Tue, Sep 23, 2014 at 1:29 PM, Doug Marmion <doug.marmion at gmail.com>
> wrote:
> Hi,
>
> I've found TileMill be good for this kind of purpose, as well as easy to
> use.
>
> https://www.mapbox.com/tilemill/
>
>
> cheers,
> doug
>
>
> On 23 Sep 2014, at 13:19, Hiram Ring <hiram1 at e.ntu.edu.sg> wrote:
>
> Hi folks,
>
> This may have been asked previously, but I'm trying to create a new map to
> illustrate rough language boundaries, and I'm having difficulty finding a
> simple way to do so. I know R has various options and can get geo-data from
> GIS, but that seems like a steep learning curve. Google mapmaker and other
> online services that I have found do not provide enough visualization
> options (you get roads or satellite data, but no district boundaries in
> India, for example, and can't fill or highlight areas).
>
> Can anyone recommend some options for creating linguistic maps?
>
> Thanks,
> Hiram
> _______________
> Hiram Ring
> PhD Student, Grammatical Description and Documentation
> Nanyang Technological University
> http://linguistics.hss.ntu.edu.sg
>
>
>
>
>
>
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