Data Lab at Tufts

Innovate. Analyze. Visualize.

Web Based Applications

Web based applications are free, online tools that run within a website. There are many helpful tools and applications that can aid students, faculty and staff with their research and project needs.

Below you will find a list of useful web based applications and tools commonly used at Tufts University. To view a larger catalog of geospatial, statistical and visualization tools, check out VisualizingData.com

Web-Based Geospatial Applications & Software:

    • ArcGIS Online is an online GIS platform hosted by ESRI, that allows users to create and share maps, scenes, apps, layers, analytics, and data.  Tufts University holds an organization subscription. For instructions on how to access your Tufts ArcGIS Online Account, please see our ArcGIS Online page.
    • CartoDB is a web based GIS and anaylsis tool which allows users to create dynamic maps that can be displayed and embedded in a web browser.
    • OpenStreetMap  (OSM) is a collaborative project to create a free and editable map of the world. Data can be downloaded to use in a GIS.
    • US Cencus Geocoder is an online tool which matches addresses to geographic locations and entities containing those addresses.
    • Social Explorer provides quick and easy access to current and historical census data and demographic information. It allows you to visualize, interact, explore, create, save and share maps and reports. Tufts University has a University Subscription. For more information on Social Explorer, see our page on Tufts Subscriptions/Holdings.
    • Policy Map is a web-based Geographic Information System (GIS) used to create maps of the United States down to the Census block groups. Available data includes demographics, home sale statistics, health data, mortgage trends, school performance scores and labor data like unemployment, crime statistics and city crime rates.  Tufts University holds an organization subscription. For instructions on how to access your Tufts ArcGIS Online Account, please see our ArcGIS Online page.
    • Kartograph is a simple and lightweight framework for building interactive map applications.
    • Leaflet is a light weight, java script library for making tile based interactive maps for desktop and mobile browsers.
    • MapBox is an opensource, developer platform for creating and using interactive maps for desktop and mobile browsers.
    • BatchGeo is a free tool which geocodes a list of address and finds distances.
    • Geographic Position Finder is a tool developed at The Center for Geographic Analysis (CGA) at Harvard to find latitude and longitude coordinates. Users can click, drag, and drop a marker to view its latitude & longitude coordinates, good to six decimal places.
    • OpenHeatMap is an accessible way for non-specialists to upload data and create maps that communicate information. Incorporating the OpenStreetMap map data, it transforms data from sources such as a Google Spreadsheet into an interactive, animated view of a geographical area, which you can then share online.
    • OpenSourceGIS is a cataloged list of many more open source tools for use with GIS.
    • Degrees, Minutes, Seconds to Decimal Degrees Converter allows users to easily convert between the two latitude/longitude units quickly and easily.
Field Data Collection Tools:
    • Collector for ArcGIS is a field data collection application which allows users to use their smartphone or tablet to collect and update information in the field, whether connected or disconnected.
    • Survey123 for ArcGIS is an application that allows users to create surveys and forms for simple and easy field data collection, analysis and sharing.
    • Fulcrum is a web-based application that allows users to create their own field data collection forms and applications for use on their mobile devices. Tufts University has a subscription license. For an account, please email gis-support@elist.tufts.edu.

Web-Based Design Applications & Software:

    • Canva.Com is a fantastic Graphic Design Web tool with templates for brochures, posters, presentations, flyers, etc. Easy to use and beautifully designed!
    • ColorBrewer is an online tool created to assist users with appropriate color schemes for maps and graphics.
    • ColorCalculator is a interactive color wheel which allows users to explore creative color options for a design project. Simply pick your base color(s), choose a color harmony, tweak/explore as needed, and see results. You’ll get a report of the hex, RGB, and CMYK color values for your project and see your colors applied to design samples.
    • Design Seeds provides are color palettes that are meant to inspire.
    • Web Colour Data allows users to enter a URL and get a breakdown of the common colors used on the site.
    • TypeBrewer is a map design tool for selecting typography.
    • Mojomox : A free graphic tool for creating infographics.

Web-Based Statistical Applications & Tools

    • StatPages is a catalog of 100s of software packages and very specific statistical calculators. This is a great place to start whether you know what you are looking for or just browsing options.
    • VassarStats is a website for statistical computation. It has a large range of simple to safisticated online calculators.
    • R Seek is a custom front-end to Google search engine to assist in finding content related to the R language.
    • OpenEpi is a web-based, open-source, operating-independent series of programs for use in epidemiology and statistics based on JavaScript and HTML
    • SciStatCalc is a fantastic web site with online calculators for many of the common statistical probability functions and significance tests, and pages that explain the concepts and formulas behind the tests. Calculating pages provide flexible input options (type the numbers in, or read them from a text file), and well–organized output of results, with interpretations and graphical displays.
    • MedCalc.org is a collection of seven free calculating web pages: tests for one mean or one proportion, comparisons of means or proportions, relative risk, odds ratio, and diagnostic test evaluation.
    • ProtoGenie is a free extensible web-based environment for research design and data collection for surveys, experiments, clinical trials, time series, cognitive and vision research, and methods courses. The goal of the site is to let users move smoothly from research design and data collection to interim and final statistical analysis.
    • SISA (Simple Interactive Statistical Analysis) allows users to run statistical analysis directly within the browser. Choose a test, fill in the form, click the button, and the analysis will take place on the spot. The user friendly guides help determine which statistical procedure is appropriate for your data.

 Web-Based Data Visualization and Data Management Applications & Tools

    • Google Chart Tools are powerful, simple to use, and free. Try out the rich gallery of interactive charts and data tools.
    • Data-Driven Documents (D3.JS) is a very flexible open-source JavaScript library for manipulating documents based on data (e.g. to generate HTML5 or SVG charts from data).
    • RAW  is an a free and open-source web application for visualizing data. Raw is based on the popular D3.js and supports lots of different chart types like bubble, treemap, circle packing, and more.
    • Visage is a web application to create beautiful, branded reports.
    • WordClouds  is a free online word cloud generator and tag cloud creator.
    • Tagul is an online word cloud generator that enables you to create amazing and unique word cloud art with ease.
    • TagCrowd is a simple word cloud creation tool. It requires no sign up and creates word clouds that look clean, organized, and professional.
    • Gephi is an open-source beta project designed for visualizing statistical information, including relationships within networks of up to 50,000 nodes and half a million edges (connections or relationships) as well as network analyses of factors such as “betweenness,” closeness and clustering coefficient.
    • Charted is a tool that allows users to automatically visualize data. All it needs is a link to the dataset and it returns a beautiful and shareable chart of the data.
    • Chartlr allows users to import tabular spreadsheet data, pick a chart type, and choose from dozens of fonts and unlimited color combinations
    • Data Hero  is a powerful data decoder that analyzes data and provides key insights and useful visualizations.
    • Plotly offers an engaging and user-friendly option for creating a range of visualizations within the browser. Simply upload data, choose a style or graph type, select your design elements and share your visualizations.
    • ChartBlocks is an easy-to-use online tool that requires no coding, and builds visualizations from spreadsheets, databases… and live feeds.
    • Renderforest has free tools for creating professional intros, animations, slideshows and music visualizations in minutes.

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