Geospatial Visualization Guide

A skill for creating maps, choropleths, and spatial data visualizations for research publications. Covers coordinate systems, choropleth maps, point maps, Python geospatial libraries, and cartographic best practices for academic papers.

Geospatial Data Fundamentals

Common Spatial Data Formats

Vector data (discrete features):
  - Shapefile (.shp): Legacy standard, multi-file
  - GeoJSON (.geojson): Web-friendly, single file
  - GeoPackage (.gpkg): Modern SQLite-based, recommended
  - KML (.kml): Google Earth format

Raster data (continuous surfaces):
  - GeoTIFF (.tif): Georeferenced image
  - NetCDF (.nc): Climate and atmospheric data
  - HDF5 (.h5): Satellite and remote sensing data