Hi allThis isn't directly a Tessitura question - but I know that you all wear so many different reporting and analytics hats, so I'm hoping you can help!
Our Learning team are looking for a way to show where they are running projects across the UK. They have a list of great ideas for visualisations to help them show the exec team what they are doing and to plan their future activity. Requirements include multiple layers to bring in open source data (eg deprivation index / population etc) by region, as well as plotting the location of high schools, galleries and other partners. There's also the desire to be able to see how activity changes year on year, and to filter by a number of different data points (eg type of school).Do you have any experience of programmes or websites offering this kind of functionality? We don't need the full 'sort out your delivery drivers' optimal routes' software that pops up when we search!Many thanks in advance for your help and recommendations of where we could start.best wishesAlison AtkinsonSenior Commercial Systems ManagerThe National Gallery
Hey Alison,
This is not particularly mind expanding but when I updated our Geo Area to be Local Government Area (between postcode and State size) it was useful as that is one of the area sizes that we report on for Government. We also couples that with a scatter map to show the reach - especially useful with virtual workshops that have quite a remote penetration. I added Chris Wallingfords export of postcode data from analytics to excel in the analytic Coffee! wiki if you want to have a look. That data vis is prety decent.
Just thinking on Excel though - I wonder if you could have one map that displayed a different data set depending on the year entered ... eg: the map showed activities of the year entered in a box and you could step through they years over time depending on the year entered. You could also ad layers that had different metrics (population/SES index). In my mind in the pivot table of values the rows would be area and the chosen "layer" would be the column number defined in a vlookup. I think you could then choose the column and row that gets fed into the area map depending on the number in a box
As a display though I often screen cut graphs out of analytics etc and pop them in photoshop to add in keylines and highlight layers - or remove elements. However in photoshop you could make a map as a moving gif with layers that are consecutive years and see engagement evolve over time.
Also if you have the book Good Charts page 170 has some good area maps in both hex and box style. Also some great tips to avoid data vis errors using the scottish referendum as a model.
H
Hi Alison,
A program that I've used in the past for big mapping visualization projects is ArcGIS from a company called ESRI. It's a pretty robust tool and does take some time to learn, but there are a lot of shapefiles you can pull in from the web for those layers you're interested in including. For instance, I can add in layers of US Census Data or from other open-source files from other researchers or local government departments that might have details on things like school districts.
They have an online version, or a desktop application. I was able to apply for their nonprofit software license and it was only $100 a year.
I don't know the international reach of the tool, but maybe a search for GIS (geographic information system) shapefiles for some of the data layers you're looking to include might also help you find out whether this or other software tools are available.
This sounds like an exciting project and if you learn of other mapping tools please share!
- Christine
The covid map Tom shared here uses arcGIS I believe.
https://community.tessituranetwork.com/topical_groups/analytics-coffee/f/discussions/24640/mapping-coronavirus-responsibly
I've done stuff like this in 3D Maps in Excel. It doesn't have the most features and has its own quirks but can get you pretty far with a little creativity. This map was created to show different types of venues in our area. Each venue type is its own layer that I imported from tables, so that I can color code them. I could also layer in our geo areas if needed. I then duplicate the map and filter it as many times as needed and throw them in power point to animate through the various filtered maps. (There is some kind of animation in 3D Maps itself, but I haven't toyed with it) Legends callouts would need to be added in photoshop or something.
Thank you Heath, Christine, Jonathan - these are all super-helpful thoughts and suggestions. Lots for me to play with!