data jitters

Well, as anticipated, I'm deep into the grounds of caffeine while compiling data for processing through software (ArcGIS). It took me some time, but I finally found a solid source of data. The International Coffee Organization (ICO) has quickly climbed in the ranks of most visited websites in the past few weeks. I first checked out the National Coffee Association, but unfortunately you need to pay for membership to access their data. I would normally jump on board if it were a simple fee, but these people are serious. They want a whomping 800 dollars for a non-trader membership. This makes me figure that the website is pretty legit where people of the coffee trade compile their annual data through. The ICO on the other hand has much of their data from the past thirty years conveniently organized in downloadable spreadsheets! The amount of data has been quite difficult to dig through, but I've compiled decade data (1990, 2000, 2010) on export and imports for all recognized countries.

So, yada yada yada, I have all of this data. Now what to do with it? I've got some relation-based ideas to find some patterns or relationships within the data. Some focus on the export numbers versus the climate and available land for countries, to get a better representation of possible export numbers versus actual numbers. With price data, there's the possibility of comparing exports/imports with retail and basic cost to farmers. The problem I'm running into is where the need for a map comes into play. The climate and land availability are the most spatially required data, but the other numbers don't necessarily need a map. This is my current situation. I've found the data, now I'm trying to find its use.

With all the data jitters comes plenty of coffee jitters. I've recently purchased a fantastic blend of Peruvian medium arabica beans from a nifty little organization: Just Coffee. I linked them on the previous post, but they are a well ventured business dealing with the fair trade and just treatment of growers and buyers. Quite well run I would say. The cartography lab continues to radiate beautiful aromas around the mezzanine level of Science Hall. I'm starting a nice trend and to be honest, my productivity has gone way up. I'm not able to sleep much (3:00 AM) right now, but by golly I'm getting work done.