In this tutorial, developed for the GEO Open Data and Open Knowledge Workshop 2023, participants gained the capacity to efficiently summarize, plot, and map spatio-temporal dynamics represented in geospatial datasets over regions of interest. The tutorial focused on using open-source computational tools (namely PostGIS, R, and QGIS), involving both raster and vector data. These operations, while conceptually straightforward, are frequently applied in research, and are crucial for “distilling” complex datasets for policy- and other decision-making purposes. The tutorial is especially targeted at individuals who may have extensive experience with desktop GIS software (e.g. ArcGIS / QGIS), but who may have less experience in developing spatial analysis workflows using script-based approaches.