How to create an animated point map

Animated Points maps by Connor Musoke-Jones

In addition to letting you plot points over time on a map, the 3D map template lets you animate between states to show a point's path over time. This is great if you want to show the path a point has taken over time.

Here's an example:

To create an animated point map, the key is to have an Animation Group binding. Here's how:

1

Start by creating a simple point map using the 3D map template.

2

At a minimum, your map should feature columns for Latitude, Longitude, Start time, and Animation group.

The column bound to Animation Group will be used to animate points between different values (latitude, longitude, and other values) at different times in the timeline. Rows with the same value will animate from one set of values to another based on the start time.

3

In the datasheet of the Points tab, assign a column to Animation Group in the Select columns to visualise area. Using our example of public transportation in Chicago, the trip_id column contains a unique identifier for each train trip.

At every trip, the trains will stop at various stations, with the locations specified by latitude and longitude. Therefore, to animate a point moving between stops, the Trip IDs must be repeated for all the stops included in the trip.

Here's what our map should look like after setting up the column bindings:

4

To add movement to your map, enable Timeline and select Hide under Show chart. If the animation looks too fast, you can increase the Timeline duration.

5

If your points aren't animating, check the time format – here's how to fix that.

6

You can also adjust the point size to reduce overlapping and also customize point colors.

Here's how our map will look like now: