Area Profile User Guidev 620

Using the InstantAtlasTM Area Profile
Template
Author: GeoWise User Support

Released: 02/10/2009
Version: 6.2.0
Using the InstantAtlas Area Profile Template User Guide
Table of Contents
1. Introduction..................................................................................................................... 1
2. Area Profile – Spine Chart ................................................................................................. 1
2.1. Configuration ........................................................................................................... 1
2.2. Data Preparation....................................................................................................... 3
3. Performance Results ......................................................................................................... 5
3.1. Configuration ........................................................................................................... 5
4. Community Health Profiles ................................................................................................ 8
4.1. Configuration ........................................................................................................... 8
5. Making the spine chart read dataplus XML files ...................................................................10
6. InstantAtlas Support........................................................................................................12
©GeoWise Ltd. 2009 data visualization tools, data visualization software, disease mapping, health
mapping, geomarketing, public health statistics, crime mapping, statistical analysis
tools, public health observatory, community information systems, geodemographic
analysis
Using the InstantAtlas Area Profile Template User Guide Page 1
1. Introduction
This document describes the use of the InstantAtlas Area Profile template (v6.1 onwards). This
template is very flexible and is therefore deserving of a dedicated user guide. It is assumed that you
have already read the Publisher, Excel Data Manager and Designer user guides.
When publishing using this template the ‘Choose Settings for Your Dynamic Report’ of the Publisher
offers different configuration options. You should choose the one that suits the style of presentation
you wish to create. These configuration options are described in the following sections.
2. Area Profile – Spine Chart

2.1. Configuration
With this configuration the main chart is configured to be a spine chart. This has a central spine and
horizontal bars to either side of this that show whether indicator values for the selected area(s) are
above/below a given comparator. If you publish this with a demonstration data file the report will look
like that in Figure 1.
Figure 1
You can alter this configuration once you have published a report by opening the config.xml file using
the Designer. There are many properties for the spine chart that can be changed to further tailor the
appearance/functionality. You can move your mouse pointer over property names in the Designer to
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see a description. If you are not sure what a particular property is used for please contact the
GeoWise Support team using the details in the final section of this guide.
It is possible to show a variable number of columns in the spine chart and each one can be configured
separately. The properties that can be set for each column are described below:
Alias – the heading displayed for the column.
Width – this will be the width of the column as a percentage of the whole chart.
Name – this will define the data source for the column. If the column should display indicator values
(i.e. thematically mapped values) the value should be ‘value’. If the column should display associate
values, the Name should be the name of the associate exactly as in the XML data file(s) for your
dynamic report (e.g. ‘diff’ or ‘baseline’).
If you wish to show symbols, stand alone, in a column you will need to define the Name as
‘symbol(symbolValue:associate name)’ where associate name refers to the name exactly as in the
XML data file(s) for your dynamic report (e.g. ‘trend’ or ‘state’). You can define the actual symbols for
the values in the properties section of the Spine Chart Properties.
If you wish to show symbols and text within the same column you will need to define the Name as
‘symbol(symbolValue:associate name,textValue:value)’. Note that “associate name” refers to the
name exactly as in the XML data file(s) for your dynamic report (e.g. ‘trend’ or ‘state’). The “value”
refers to either the indicator value or if you would like it to show the symbol with the text of an
associate value you should change “value” to the associate name exactly as in the XML data file(s) for
your dynamic report (e.g. ‘trend’ or ‘state’).
Target data (in the Properties section of the Spine Chart Properties) – this will generally be ‘target’.
If you have an associate called ‘target’ in the XML data file(s) for your dynamic report the associate
values will be used to draw vertical bars denoting the target an area should achieve.
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2.2. Data Preparation
An example of how you should prepare your data is provided in the Excel workbook called
IAworkbookAreaProfile_SpineChart.xls.
This is located in the ‘documentation’ folder of your InstantAtlas software. The default location for this
is:
C:\Program Files\GeoWise\InstantAtlas\documentation.
The required data structure is shown in the worksheet called ‘iadatasheet’ and is shown in Figure 2.
Figure 2
By default, the horizontal bars in the spine chart are configured to use an associate called ‘diff’.
Although these values can represent anything you like we recommend that they are the percentage
difference between the indicator value for the base geography area and the indicator value for the
comparator. The comparator can be anything you like but is typically a national or regional average -
it must be the same for all base geography areas.
In the example above (fictional data), the ‘diff’ values for each indicator are the percentage difference
between the Edinburgh post code sectors values and the Scotland value. In this case Scotland would
be the comparator. The percentage difference can be calculated in the following way:
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100 * ((base area indicator value – comparator value) / comparator value)
This will give you positive difference values where the base area value is higher than the comparator
value and negative difference values where the base area value is lower than the comparator value.
The ‘target’ associate is optional. If you include target values these will be shown as little vertical
markers superimposed on the horizontal bars. These will show whether the target for a particular
indicator has been reached or not. If you do not include the ‘target’ associate, these markers will not
show.
In addition to ‘diff’ and ‘target’ associates you can include any others described in the Excel Data
Manager user guide (e.g. ‘ll’, ‘ul’ or ‘count’) or your own custom associates.
Having multiple time periods for each indicator is optional. If you do have multiple time periods, we
recommend you only show the most recent in the spine chart (to avoid ending up with too many rows
in the chart). You can do this by making the spine chart use different XML data files to the other
components (see Section 5).
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3. Performance Results
3.1. Configuration
With this configuration the spine chart works slightly differently. Each indicator value is represented
using a horizontal bar that is superimposed upon reversible shaded ranges. Each indicator can
operate on a different scale in the bars column. This chart is well suited to displaying performance
indicators but can also be applied more widely to other data. If you publish this with a demonstration
data file the report will look like that in Figure 3.
Figure 3
Again, you can alter this configuration once you have published a report by opening the config.xml file
using the Designer. For example, you might decide to remove the baseline column or to change the
symbols that are displayed alongside the indicator values.
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For each indicator you include in your report you should provide the following associates in the XML
data file(s):
target – target values shown as text in the Target column and as vertical bars in the final column of
the chart
baseline – baseline values shown as text in the Baseline column of the chart
trend – values shown as symbols in the Trend column of the chart
state – values shown as symbols in the Value column of the chart
The required data structure is shown in the ‘iadatasheet’ worksheet of the workbook called
IAworkbookAreaProfile_Performance.xls. This is also in the documentation folder.
Figure 4
For the shaded ranges to display in the bars column you must define break values (that indicate where
each range starts and stops). These must be provided in the Metadata worksheet of your Excel
workbook. Refer to the ‘Metadata’ worksheet in IAworkbookAreaProfile_Performance.xls.
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Figure 5
Use the ‘breaks’ element to specify break values for each indicator. These must be separated by
semicolons and will define the number and size of the ranges shown in the chart. The break values
can be different for each indicator but the number of breaks must be the same. If you wish to flip the
ranges for a particular indicator, set the ‘breakflips’ element to be TRUE.
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4. Community Health Profiles

4.1. Configuration
This configuration shares similarities with the Performance Results configuration. However, it has been
tailored to the appearance/functionality required for the reports published by the Association of Public
Health Observatories (APHO):
http://www.apho.org.uk/default.aspx?QN=P_HEALTH_PROFILES
Note that there is no reason why this configuration cannot be used to display non-health data. The
main differences to the Performance Results configuration all affect the spine chart and are listed
below:
1. The columns in the chart are intended to show different values. They therefore have different
column headings and the associates they require have different names.
2. The proportional bars have been replaced with points.
3. The chart is setup to show three grey-shaded ranges that represent the national quartiles.
4. The national value is represented by a vertical bar and these are always centre aligned.
For each indicator you include in your report you should provide the following associates in the XML
data file(s):
number – the number (count) shown in the ‘Local No. / Year’ column
national – the national averages shown centre-aligned in the final column. For any particular
indicator, this value will be the same for all base geography features.
regional – regional averages shown using diamond symbols in the final column
significance – significance categories that define whether an area is significantly above/below the
national average. They are used to display the correct symbol in the ‘Significance’ column. Values of
‘better’, ‘none’ and ‘worse’ should be used.
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The required data structure is shown in the ‘iadatasheet’ worksheet of the workbook called
IAworkbookAreaProfile_CHP.xls. This is also in the documentation folder.
Figure 6
For each indicator you must also supply the four breaks used to display the grey-shaded national
quartiles. This is done in exactly the same way as for the Performance Analysis configuration.
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5. Making the spine chart read dataplus XML files

By default, all of the components in your report will read their data from a data.xml file (or a data.xml
file with supporting theme files). However, you have the option of making the spine/performance
chart read data from a separate set of XML data files – one for each base geography area. The
advantages are the following:
1. Performance (speed). The report will not need to load all data XML files “up front”. The spine
chart data only gets loaded (one area at a time) when you select an area following the initial
load. The initial load of the report will therefore be quicker. This performance gain is only
likely to be apparent if there are relatively large numbers of areas (e.g. >200) and/or
indicators (e.g. >50).
2. Display latest date only in the spine chart. If you wish to include time series data in your
report you will need to put the various time periods for each indicator into the data.xml file.
This is so that the time series chart will display this data. But the spine chart is most effective
when you only have a single time period (the most recent) per indicator – otherwise you end
up with too many rows in the chart. By making the spine chart work off its own set of data
files you can make sure that these include the most recent time period only for each indicator.
If you wish to implement this, you will need to configure the spine chart in your report to read data
from dataplus files. Open the config.xml file for the report, open the properties for the chart and
ensure that the ‘Use Dataplus files?’ checkbox is ticked.
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Then add a split column to the Geography and Filters worksheet of your Excel workbook. The split
value for each base geography feature must be the code of the feature (Figure 7).
Figure 7
Use the Excel Data Manager add-in to export the XML data files to the report folder. In the ‘Save As’
dialog you must change the file name to ‘dataplus.xml’ (Figure 8).
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Figure 8
When you export, the Excel Data Manager will generate a separate dataplus XML file for each area in
the base geography. These will be named dataplus_{feature code}.xml. Note that only these files
need to contain the associates used by the spine chart (e.g. baseline, trend, state, etc). The data.xml
(and supporting theme files) that are used by the other components do not necessarily need to include
these associates.
6. InstantAtlas Support
You can find InstantAtlas support resources at www.instantatlas.com/support.xhtml. This includes an
extensive Frequently Asked Questions list and a link to the InstantAtlas user forum, which includes a
Usability Issues section. If these resources do not provide a solution, please contact your support
provider.
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Using the InstantAtlasTM Area Profile

Author: GeoWise User Support

2. Area Profile – Spine Chart

Alias – the heading displayed for the column.

2.2. Data Preparation

100 * ((base area indicator value – comparator value) / comparator value)

3.2. Data Preparation

trend – values shown as symbols in the Trend column of the chart

state – values shown as symbols in the Value column of the chart

4. Community Health Profiles

4.2. Data Preparation

5. Making the spine chart read dataplus XML files

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