Binify

A command-line tool to better visualize crowded dot density maps.

Don't miss the introductory blog post.

Developed as part of a visualization course at the University of Minnesota.

Have an idea? Open up an issue.

In the wild

• Binify + D3 = Gorgeous honeycomb maps - Chris Wilson, Mechanical Scribe
• The Drone War: A Comprehesive Map of Lethal U.S. Attacks - Allsion McCann, Bloomberg Businessweek
• Crimes reported in Waterloo, Iowa - Chris Essig, Waterloo Cedar Falls Courier

Installation

Binify is available in the Python Package Index. I recommend using a virtual environment.

$ mkvirtualenv binify
$ pip install binify

Node: This installation assumes GDAL is already installed. To install GDAL with python bindings:

OS X: Try the precompiled biniaries by KyngChaos.

Ubuntu:

$ sudo apt-add-repository ppa:ubuntugis/ppa
$ sudo apt-get update
$ sudo apt-get install python-gdal

Usage

To view options for your installed version of Binify, use the help flag.

$ binify --help
usage: binify [-h] [-n NUM_ACROSS] [-o] [--ignore-type] infile outfile

positional arguments:
  infile                A point shapefile to create bins from.
  outfile               A shapefile to write to. Will be created if it does
                        not exist.

optional arguments:
  -h, --help            show this help message and exit
  -n NUM_ACROSS, --num-across NUM_ACROSS
                        Number of hexagons for the grid to have across
                        (approximate)
  -E EAST_LNG WEST_LNG SOUTH_LAT NORTH_LAT, --extent EAST_LNG WEST_LNG SOUTH_LAT NORTH_LAT
                        Use a custom extent.
  -e, --exclude-empty   Exclude shapes that end up binning zero points.
  -o, --overwrite       Overwrite output file.
  --ignore-type         Ignore the geometry type of the input shapefile.
  --suppress-output     Supress console output (excluding any warnings).

A basic execution may look like this:

$ binify MN_FFLS/MN_FFLS.shp MN_FFLS-grid/MN_FFLS-grid.shp