Using the Map Wizard - using custom shapes for thematic mapping
The Map Wizard is a new addition to the SpatialKey report creator. This step-by-step process is designed to help get your data onto a map, in the way you want it, in a quick and simple way. In this How To we will show how easy it can be to visualize your data using the new Thematic Mapping capabilities (in this case using a custom imported geoset from a shape file) of SpatialKey by using the Map Wizard in a new report.
The example problem:
Using a US Sales Data dataset (containing sales data for the years 2007 and 2008 and the sales region those sales are a part of) imported into SpatialKey, show the total sales in 2008 by sales region (the custom geoset contains these sales regions covering the United States).
The example data:
Here is a sample of the example data used in this how to (you can download the salesdata.csv here to duplicate this example), notice that each row contains the sales region that the sale occurred within – 
Next we see the regions displayed in SpatialKey (download the shape file here) – 
Note: Be sure to import the .csv and the shape file before creating the report
Create a custom thematic map from the data
Step 1: Create a new report by clicking the “Create a report” button for the US Sales Data dataset
Step 2: Select Full Screen Map from the Select a Template screen
At this point the new Create a Map Wizard appears. The wizard has two main options (depending on the dataset selected) on the first screen:
1) Create a density map (heatmap and graduated circles) for your data
2) Create a thematic map (display your data in relation to geographic boundaries like states, counties, and postal codes or even custom uploaded shape files)
Step 3: Select Thematic Shape Map

Step 4: Click on the Create a Joing with a geoset button

Step 5: Choose the custom Geo Set to use for the thematic map. In this example we want to show the total sales for 2008 for the Sales Regions geoset so select the appropriate geoset from the list and click Next.

Step 6: There are two ways to join the sales data to the sales regions. If both your datasets already have a common field (which in this case they do) then you can identify this to SpatialKey and no other processing is needed. If, however, you do not have a common field we can determine using the spatial capabilities within SpatialKey which regions (shapes) the data belongs within. This process can take a while to complete depending on the overall sizes of both the shape and csv data.
The next screen of the wizard asks which method you would like to use in order to create the join. As both of the dataset used here have a common field click the Select a Common Field button.

Step 7: In order to visualize the source .csv data by a custom geoset both the data and the geoset must contain a field with matching information. Each row of the sales data has the sales region it was created within as does the Sales Regions geoset. This screen specifies the field name from the source data and the geoset that contain the matching data. Select the correct field for each set of data and click Next.

Step 8: The next screen in the wizard allows the user to select how the data is visualized in the custom geoset. Two options are presented. The first (Number of Records) will display each custom shape (in this case Sales Region) that contains data on the map and will color the shape based on the total count of records that match that shape. The second option (Calculated Value of a Numeric Field) allows the user to present the shapes based on a calculated numeric value in the source data. For our example problem, we are tasked to display the total revenue for year 2008 so select the Calculated Value of a Numeric Field button.

Step 9: We must now tell SpatialKey what field we wish to do the numeric calculation on and what type of calculation we would like to apply. For our problem we need to calculate the total (sum) so select Total (Sum) for the first drop down (other options include Minimum, Maximum, and Average) and the N 2008 Revenue field for the second. Notice that the other numeric fields in the dataset are represented as well. When ready to go on press the Continue button.

Step 10: The finish screen appears next with a complete overview of the selections made. If satisfied with the selections, click the Finish button to view the created map.
Total Revenue for year 2008 by Custom Sales Regions


Follow Us: