BatchGeo is the “fastest way to create Google maps from your data.” All you need to do is to copy and paste location-based spreadsheet data into the BatchGeo textbox and click “Map Now” and you’ve got a map of all the locations in the spreadsheet. It not only creates a pin on the map but it includes all the other information from that row of the spreadsheet in the pin as well. I was able to successfully create maps using just city/state information as well as longitude and latitude. BatchGeo has a clustering/grouping feature that allows you to display information points int he form of a pie chart as well as individual pins. Pair it with a Google Form to collect the data that can then be easily visualized within BatchGeo. Once created your map can be downloaded as a KML file for use in Google Earth or can be embedded into OAKS, a blog or a website.
Uses in Education:
- Any data that has a location associated with it can be mapped:
- political party registration in an area
- socioeconomic inequities
- school populations
- demographic data of your class
- Great for field work. Using a GPS device track the longitude and latitude associated with data samples collected.
- Great for younger students:
- map the locations they’ve traveled in their lifetimes
- journeys of famous people
- mapping a work of fiction that takes place in a real city
- science data samples
Pricing
It’s free to get started. No accounts are required, also making it a good tool for K12 students. With the free version you are limited to 2,500 addresses or data points per map (Pro account allows 15,000) and 6 groups (Pro account allows 9) and cannot password protect a map. The Pro version is $99 per month but before paying that amount I would recommend checking into other options that might be more robust.
