New Jersey Advance Media Data Toolbox

A reporter repository for all things data, from basic instruction to complex visualization.

This page houses hundreds of databases, 64 analysis and visualization tools and 583 tutorials.






Welcome to the NJAM Data Toolbox. From this page, you can submit a request to the data team, find data and geography files for stories and find visualization tools and tutorials to help make your stories better. Scroll down and use the buttons below to find data, geographic mapping data, tutorials and tools available for use. #

If you have questions about any of this, please e-mail Carla Astudillo or Stephen Stirling on the data desk.











Help and Education



Using the buttons below, you can either submit a request for help from the data team on a project, ask a simple question of the data team or browse our repository of nearly 600 tutorials from the IRE's data journalism conference from the last three years.






Submit a Data Request Ask a Question Browse Tutorials




Available Data and Visualizations



Here you can find links to available data through our Data Warehouse, geographic files for mapping (GIS data) and a page of embed codes for evergreen visualizations already created, such as the Power Outage Tracker.






NJ GIS Data Data Warehouse Data Viz Embed Codes



Analysis and Visualization Tools



The menu below allows you to peruse available tools by category. The tables are searchable and sortable, and grade tools by skill level. For more information, click the name of the program you are interested in. You can also search the entire tools database below.






Mapping Tools Charting Tools Getting and Analyzing Data Programming Tools Other Data Tools





Click on the name of the program for more detailed information.



Program Type Skill Level Website
ArcView Mapping Intermediate to Advanced http://www.esri.com/software/arcgis/arcview
Batch Geo Data Collection Analysis and Cleaning Beginner to Intermediate http://batchgeo.com/
BitTorrent Data Collection Analysis and Cleaning Beginner http://www.bittorrent.com/
CartoDB Mapping Intermediate to Advanced http://cartodb.com/
Change Detection Data Collection Analysis and Cleaning Beginner http://www.changedetection.com/
Color Brewer Other Visualization Tools Beginner http://colorbrewer2.org/
Color Picker Other Visualization Tools Beginner http://www.colorpicker.com/
Comet Docs Data Collection Analysis and Cleaning Beginner http://www.cometdocs.com/
Data Tables Charts/Tables Advanced http://datatables.net/
DataWrapper Charts/Tables Beginner to Intermediate http://datawrapper.de/
Document Cloud Other Visualization Tools Beginner https://www.documentcloud.org/home
DownThemAll Data Collection Analysis and Cleaning Beginner http://www.downthemall.net/
FOIA Machine Data Collection Analysis and Cleaning Beginner foiamachine.org
Google Apps Script Coding Advanced https://developers.google.com/apps-script/
Google Charts Charts/Tables Intermediate to Advanced https://developers.google.com/chart/
Google Drive/Office Data Collection Analysis and Cleaning Beginner https://drive.google.com
Google Earth Mapping Intermediate to Advanced http://www.google.com/earth/
Google Forms Data Collection Analysis and Cleaning Beginner http://www.google.com/google-d-s/createforms.html
Google Fusion Tables Mapping Intermediate http://www.google.com/drive/apps.html#fusiontables
Google Fusion Tables API Mapping Advanced https://www.google.com/search?q=google+fusion+tables+api&ie=utf-8&oe=utf-8&aq=t&rls=org.mozilla:en-US:official&client=firefox-a
Google Maps API Mapping Advanced https://developers.google.com/maps/
Google Maps Engine Mapping Beginner https://mapsengine.google.com/map/?pli=1
OpenRefine Data Collection Analysis and Cleaning Intermediate https://openrefine.org/
HighCharts Charts/Tables Intermediate to Advanced http://www.highcharts.com/
Leaflet Mapping Advanced http://leafletjs.com/
Mapbox Mapping Beginner http://www.mapbox.com
Mapbox.js Mapping Advanced https://www.mapbox.com/mapbox.js/api/v1.4.2/
Microsoft Access Data Collection Analysis and Cleaning Intermediate to Advanced http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/access/
Microsoft Excel Data Collection Analysis and Cleaning Beginner to Advanced http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/excel/
National Weather Service API Data Collection Analysis and Cleaning Advanced http://graphical.weather.gov/xml/
Notepad++ Coding Beginner http://notepad-plus-plus.org/
PuTTy Other Visualization Tools Advanced http://www.chiark.greenend.org.uk/~sgtatham/putty/download.html
QGIS Mapping Intermediate to Advanced http://www.qgis.org/en/site/
Shape Escape Mapping Beginner http://www.shpescape.com/
Tableau Public Charts/Tables Intermediate http://www.tableausoftware.com/public/
Tablizer! Charts/Tables Beginner to Intermediate http://tableizer.journalistopia.com/
Tabula Data Collection Analysis and Cleaning Beginner to Intermediate http://tabula.nerdpower.org/
Text Wrangler Coding Beginner http://www.barebones.com/products/textwrangler/
TileMill Mapping Intermediate to Advanced https://www.mapbox.com/tilemill/
Timeline.JS Other Visualization Tools Intermediate http://timeline.knightlab.com/
Twitter API Data Collection Analysis and Cleaning Advanced https://dev.twitter.com/
Wget Data Collection Analysis and Cleaning Intermediate
SPSS Data Collection Analysis and Cleaning Advanced http://www-01.ibm.com/software/analytics/spss/
Firebug Coding Intermediate to Advanced https://getfirebug.com/
Caspio Charts/Tables Intermediate http://www.caspio.com/
Thinglink Other Visualization Tools Beginner http://www.thinglink.com/
Yahoo Pipes Data Collection Analysis and Cleaning Advanced http://pipes.yahoo.com/pipes/
StoryMap Mapping Beginner http://storymap.knightlab.com/
SoundCite Other Visualization Tools Beginner to Intermediate http://soundcite.knightlab.com/
Mapbox Studio Mapping Intermediate to Advanced https://www.mapbox.com/mapbox-studio/#darwin
Import.io Data Collection Analysis and Cleaning Beginner to Advanced http://import.io
Plot.ly Charts/Tables Beginner to Advanced https://plot.ly/
Overview Project Data Collection Analysis and Cleaning Beginner to Intermediate http://overview.ap.org/
Odyssey Mapping Beginner to Advanced
GitHub Coding Intermediate to Advanced https://github.com/
Open Calais Data Collection Analysis and Cleaning Advanced http://www.opencalais.com/
Alchemy API Data Collection Analysis and Cleaning Advanced http://www.alchemyapi.com/
Schooner Other Visualization Tools Advanced https://github.com/propublica/schooner-tk
Tarbell Coding Advanced https://tarbell.readthedocs.org/en/1.0/#
Minezy Data Collection Analysis and Cleaning Beginner to Advanced http://minezy.org/
LandSat-ul Data Collection Analysis and Cleaning Advanced https://github.com/developmentseed/landsat-util
Bokeh Other Visualization Tools Advanced https://github.com/developmentseed/landsat-util
Timeline Curator Other Visualization Tools Intermediate to Advanced https://github.com/developmentseed/landsat-util
CloudStitch Other Visualization Tools Intermediate to Advanced https://cloudstitch.io