Google Fusion Tables / Earth Test

1.) Use Google Fusion Tables and import your KML file as a new table (this table contains the boundaries of your shapes). I found this free program Shp2kml (http://www.zonums.com/shp2kml.html), which takes shapefiles and converts to Google Earth KML files.

2.) Use Google Fusion Tables and import your data file (the column that determines the 'intensity' - for this example I used a sample count)

3.) Merge the Tables (for my tables I used the ZIP codes as the common column)

4.) Google Fusion Tables > Visualize > Map

5.) 'Configure Styles' > Change your bucket values (so that 0 to 1 displays as this color, 1 to 10 displays as that color, etc.)

6.) If you want to share with others or display on the web site, load the table, click on the top right 'Share', and imbed the HTML

7.) I'm trying to figure out how to display the intensity map on Google Earth. When I transfer it, I lose the bucket values.

Edit: Choropleth and Thematic mapping! Those are the keywords I was looking for. Now time to scour the Internet for a plug-in for Google Earth! :)