OpenHeatMap

Introduction

OpenHeatMap is a service provided over the web (www.openheatmap.com) which is used to translate location-based data into color coded maps (where color changes as per the underlying data related to the area). It was developed by Pete Warden in March 2010 as a personal project. It transforms data from a spreadsheet into interactive animated views (maps) of geographical areas which is used to better communicate tabular information.

OpenHeatMap Homepage

Furthermore the maps created can be shared online for various geographic visualizations. We can also place markers on the map for additional info with the help of this tool. Since it a web-based service, it is generally hosted on the site “openheatmap.com” where the data in the form of either excel sheet or Google doc can be uploaded and the color coded map is generated. But for developers, it can also be used as JQuery plug-in, by which a completely open-source mapping component can be created on any web page, using either Flash or HTML5’s Canvas element.

This is an example code which can be embedded to create and populate heatmap.

Features

· The size, transparency and color of marker can be easily customized. Marker image can also be uploaded at the option provided. By adding a tooltip column in the data source which is uploaded, we can customize what appears in the tooltips rollover.

· By the way how location columns are named, OpenHeatMap recognizes a wide range of place definitions and creates map locations accordingly. Here’s the list of some of the location columns that OpenHeatMap understands –

address

city_code

country

country_code

county

county_code

county_without_state

district_code

dk_county

dk_county_code

fips_code

ip_address

state

state_code

zip_code_area

It can also generate density/blob heatmaps if the location data is in the form of latitude/longitude coordinates rather than in the form of countries, zip codes , etc. Example given below –

Blob heatmap for real estate prices

Data used for demo

For this demo, we have used the data regarding the facebook usage/penetration level in various countries of the world in July 2010 (source – Wikipedia).

A portion of the data used

Country	ISO country code	Facebook users (July 2010)	population	Percentage penetration
Hong Kong	HK	3408240	7026400	48.5062
Canada	CA	15497900	34077000	45.4791
United Kingdom	GB	26543600	62041708	42.7835
United States	US	125881220	309114000	40.7232
Chile	CL	6944540	17063000	40.6994
Sweden	SE	3798020	9349059	40.6246
Australia	AU	9009660	22234000	40.522

This data has the location variable in the first column in the form of country name (recognized by OpenHeatMap).

Other column contains the details of Facebook users, population of the country and the percentage of population that uses facebook.

After uploading the data on openheatmap.com, the following map is generated.

· The darker the shade of blue, the higher the percentage of population that uses facebook.

Business value by data analysis tool

It would help managers identify the countries in which facebook has made the greatest inroads into. With given data plus OpenHeatMap, managers can get an interactive map which they can play with to identify the density of facebook users specifically with regards to which countries it has the largest (and sometimes smallest) number of the population signed up for the same.

OpenHeatMap can deliver following business values -

· Help identify the target user demographically

· Identify groups and sub groups within the population.

· Help in doing population based specific data forecast.

· Establish strong linkage between the preferences of customers and demography.

Similarly same kind of approach can be applied with any user based application which logs in the demography variables to segregate the target population on the basis of specific regions with the help of this analytic service. With the help of this demographic segmentation, marketers can formulate appropriate strategies.