Introduction to Data Cleaning with OpenRefine

Meg Miller - GIS & Data Visualization Librarian

slides: bit.ly/uml_openrefine

Outline

What is OpenRefine

In short:

Open tool

Runs in web browser

Can be as complicated as you want

For data cleaning

What is data cleaning

Improving the overall quality of your data.

Main categories:

Resolving inconsistencies

Formatting

Null values

Resolving Inconsistencies:

Variant spelling, inconsistent case, duplication...

Formatting:

Unit of measurement

Dates, text, numbers

Columns/ rows

Format migration

Benefits:

Efficient research

Easier conversion

Secondary use

Hands-on: Cleaning some messy data

Questions