Visualizing Multi-Temporal Data with Time Manager

Requirements

Windows/Macintosh/Linux Compatible

• A Screenr account.
• Libreoffice 3.6.4 or Openoffice 3.4.1
• QGIS 1.8
• Time Manager plugin for QGIS
• Skitch or Gyazo

Installing Time Manager

Setting Repository

• Start QGIS
• Click "Plugins" on the toolbar. A drop down menu will appear.
• Click "Fetch Python Plugins"
• Click "Repositories"
• Click "Add"
• Name your plugin "Time Manager"
• Type in "https://github.com/anitagraser/TimeManager" in the URL field
• Click "OK" to exit.

Installing Plugin

• Click "Plugins"
• Search "Time Manager"
• Click "Install Plugin" and wait for confirmation of install.
• Click "Close" to exit.

Enabling Plugin

• Click "Plugins" on the toolbar. A drop down menu will appear.
• Click "Manage Plugins"
• Search "Time Manager"
• Enable "Time Manager"
• Click "OK" to exit.

Enabling User Interface

• Time Manager should appear under "Plugins" drop down menu.
• If not, right click on the toolbar, drop down menu will appear; scroll down to Time Manager and check.
• Time Manger should now be at the bottom of your screen.

Getting Data

Getting CSV data

• Proceed to data.seattle.gov
• Search & open Seattle Real Time Fire 911 Calls
• Click "Export", A drop down menu will appear.
• Scroll down to "Download As"
• Download a copy of this dataset in XLSX format

Getting Vector data

• Proceed to data.seattle.gov
• Search & open Street Network Database
• Download a copy of this polyline shapefile in ZIP format
• Search & open Neighbourhoods
• Download a copy of this polygon shapefile in ZIP format

Preparation of Data

Spreadsheet

• Import to Libreoffice or Openoffice or Microsoft Excel

LibreOffice Calc/OpenOffice Calc

• Right click on "datetime" column and proceed to "Format Cells".
• Find and click "User defined" in "Numbers" tab.
• Change format to the following: YYYY-MM-DD HH:MM:SS
• Save file in CSV format.

Microsoft Excel

• Right click on "datetime" column and proceed to "Format Cells".
• Find and click "Custom" in "Numbers" tab.
• Change format to the following: YYYY-MM-DD HH:MM:SS
• Save file in CSV format.

Importing Data

Importing a Spreadsheet

• Start QGIS and click "Layer" on the toolbar. A drop down menu will appear.
• Click "Add Delimited Text Layer".
• Browse to location of Seattle_Real_Time_Fire_911_Calls.csv file.
• Click on the "OK" button.

• Right click on the imported spreadsheet on the Layers panel. A drop down menu will appear.
• Click "Save As"
• Format should be "ESRI shapefile"
• CRS should be "WGS84"
• Name of file is "Seattle.shp"
• "Add saved file to map" should be enabled.
• Save file to a desired location.
• Click on the "OK" button.

Importing a Vector Polyline/Polygon

• Start QGIS and click "Layer" on the toolbar. A dropdown menu will appear.
• Click "Add Vector Layer".
• Browse to location of your "Seattle.shp" file.
• Click on the "Open" button to import.

Importing a Single Dataset to Time Manager

• Click on the "Settings" button.
• Click "Add Layer".
• Choose "Seattle.shp" as the Layer.
• Choose "Datetime" column as the Start Time.
• Click "OK" to confirm and exit.

Visualizing the Distribution of the Type of Emergency

• Right click on seattle.shp, click "properties" from the drop down menu.
• Browse to the "Style" tab.
• Change symbology from "Single Symbol" to "Categorized"
• Choose "Type" as the column.
• Pick a gradient color ramp.
• Click on the "Classify" button.

Result

Points in Polygon Spatial Analysis

• Click "Vector" on the toolbar. A drop down menu will appear.
• Click "Analysis" from the drop down menu. Another drop down menu will appear.
• Click "Points in Polygon"
• Choose "Neighbourhoods.shp" as the input polygon vector layer.
• Choose "Seattle.shp" as the input point vector layer.
• Choose a output shapefile name, for this tutorial I chose "area.shp".
• Click "OK" to process.
• Click "Close" afterwards to exit.

Result:Bi-Weekly

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Result:Monthly

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Animation with Time Manager

Importing multiple datasets

• Click on the "Settings" button.
• Click "Add Layer".
• Choose "Seattle_Start.shp" as the Layer.
• Choose "Datetime" column as the Start Time.
• Click "OK" to confirm and exit.

• Repeat process with "Seattle_End.shp" as the Layer.
• Change the offset to -20
• Click "OK"

Result

Screencast of Visualization