College Data from CollegeScorecard.ed.gov
Description
This map is an excuse to bring the College Scorecard data set to your attention. Additionally, it does a few things:
- Uses buttons and events in the popup boxes.
- Uses the Leaflet-Ajax plugin to interact with a third party API.
- Provides an example of pruning down a large dataset (~150 MB) in a way that it is usable in a web map.
- Interacts with a non-map component, in the form of the
textareathat receives the data.
Data Source
The College Scorecard data set powers the Department of Education's college search engine, CollegeScorecard. This is a fascinating and dense chunk of data. Here's Wright State and the University of Dayton. The API that powers the site is robust; I encourage everyone to signup for a free API key and explore it yourself.
Enhancements
- The
textareathat receives the data right now works for the raw data, but could you make it more presentable? How would you go about doing that? - Sometimes, it is easier to type in a few characters of the name instead of clicking through the map. Could you implement a simple filter via a text field?
- Could you replace those boring blue balloon markers with some pins that encode more data about the school? Perhaps differentiate by locality type (rural, suburban, urban) or profit/non-profit status? How about color coding a grade based on graduation rate or earning potential after graduation? You will need to modify the college_index.json data file to implement any of these suggestions.