Create Color-Coded Maps

Creating a color-coded map provides information about an area of interest. To find out more about a community, you can quickly identify important patterns in the area you are investigating by viewing information about key metrics on a map. You can visually explore demographic information, behavioral patterns, information about business, or other community conditions on the map.

Tip:

See Navigating the Map for help on changing the map background, zooming in or out, printing, and so on.

For the community area that you are exploring, you can select from a list of variables for a color-coded map illustrating the different range values of the chosen variable. You can choose the geographic level for the variable selected. For example, you can display information for Census block groups, ZIP Codes, counties, and other geographic levels. You can adjust the appearance of the map by changing color schemes, transparency levels, and ranges of the chosen variable.

Steps:

1. To access Create Color-Coded Maps, click the Explore Community tab.
2. Click Create Color-Coded Map.

   The Create Color-Coded Map pane appears.

3. It is useful to select a location on the map. If you are looking within a specific location, enter the address in the Enter Address text box in the Create Color-Coded Map pane and click Go.

   The point appears on the map with a dialog box providing the address and options to move or delete the point.

   This dialog box can be minimized or closed using the buttons on the upper right of the dialog box.

4. To access a closed dialog box for a point, place the mouse pointer over the point and click it.

Choose Variables

You can get more information about the area from the Choose Variables drop-down menu as well as select the year and category of the data provided. Choose Variables provides a list of demographic variables such as population by age, sex, and race breakdowns as well as household and income information.

Variables are indicated by the text in parentheses following the variable name, for example, Esri Data and U.S. Census.

Note:

The list of variables available is dependent on your subscription level. The Standard Plus subscription level provides the widest access to variables that can be mapped, including data on behaviors and preferences, as well as crime data.

Steps:

1. Click the Choose Variable drop-down menu in the Create Color-Coded Map pane.

   The Choose Variables dialog box appears.

   You can select the category and year for the data to search for your variables.

2. Select the category for the data you want to use.

   The variable you select will determine the options available. Below is a description of the data provided for each button:

   • If you click the # button, it maps the value for the selected variable.
   • If you click the % button, it maps the percentage of the total population, adults or business (depending on the variable selected) for the selected variable.
   • If you click the # button, it maps the value for the American Community Survey (ACS) variable selected.
   • If you click the Reliability button, it maps a measure of the confidence in the values for the ACS variable selected. The Reliability flag reflects that size of the margin of error (MOE) for the selected estimate relative to the size of the estimate itself. If the margin of error is large relative to the size of the ACS estimate, the estimate is considered less reliable. If the size of the margin of error is relatively small compared to the size of the estimate, the estimate is considered to be more reliable.

   Market Potential Data

   See the Esri Market Potential methodology paper for more information.

   • If you click the # button, the results will be the total number of households or adults who are likely to exhibit the specified behavior or preference to be mapped.
   • If you click the % button, the results will be the percentage of households or adults who are likely to exhibit the specified behavior or preference to be mapped.
   • If you click the Index button, the results will be the comparison of the local propensity to exhibit the specified behavior or preference to the national average. For example, an index of 100 indicates the households or adults in a given area that are on par with the national average with regard to the specified behavior or preference. An index greater than 100 indicates that the specified local preference or behavior is above the national average. An index less than 100 indicates that households or adults in the area are less likely to exhibit the specified preference or behavior.

   Consumer Spending Data

   See the Esri Consumer Spending Data methodology paper for more information.

   • If you select the # button, the results will be the total household spending for the selected product or service to be mapped.
   • If you select the Avg button, the results will be the average household spending for the selected product or service to be mapped.
   • If you select the Index button, the results will be the comparison of the average expenditure for a product locally to the average amount spent nationally to be mapped. An index of 100 is average. An index of 120 shows that average spending by local consumers is 20 percent above the national average. An index less than 100 means spending is less than the national average.
3. Select the year of data you want to use.
4. To search for variables, type the words for the search in the Search text box.
5. Click Go.
6. Click the variable you want to use. The variables are dependent on the year and category you selected.

   The map appears with the selected variable applied along with the geography level in the top left corner of the color-coded map.

   Placing your pointer over an area of available geography within the map provides information in a pop-up window.

   You can also select from a list of popular variables. Clicking Show popular variables causes them to appear in a column on the right.

Map Details dialog box

The Map Details dialog box contains the Legend and Color-Coded Data tabs. You can edit ranges, filter your maps, and view the mapped variable in a graph or table.

You can open and close Map Details by clicking the arrow on the left of the dialog box.

Note:

Map Details doesn't appear until you have chosen a variable.

Legend tab

The information available on the Legend tab depends on the type of variable you have selected. The data toggle also varies depending on the variables selected.

The Legend tab shows the value ranges for the selected variable and geography on the map according to color and allows you to edit the color, ranges, lock values, and filter map options.

The Legend tab below appears if you have selected variables based on ACS data. The Legend provides a description for the colors on the map and the # and Reliability toggle allows you to change the map.

Edit Color

Steps:

1. On the Map Details dialog box, click the Legend tab.
2. To change the colors in the legend, click the color thumbnail.

   A color selection palette appears.

3. Click a color square, and the color in the thumbnail and the map changes.
   Note:

   You can use the Reverse Colors button to reverse the selected color ramp.

   To keep the category ranges the same, click Lock ranges while panning, and the values remain the same when you pan or zoom in or out of the map. This allows you to compare different locations using the same ranges. When manually changing the ranges with Edit Ranges, as described below, Lock ranges while panning is automatically selected.

Edit Ranges

You can edit the ranges for the variable you have chosen. This allows you to change the ranges to provide more details for your point. For example, if you are interested in a specific age group, you can expand the range to provide more data for that variable.

Steps:

1. On the Legend tab, click Edit ranges.

   The Edit Ranges dialog box appears.

   The selected variable data appears in a graph format.

   To edit the ranges, you can move the handles and enter new numbers or percentages.

2. Once your edits are made, click Apply.

   The changes are reflected on the Legend tab and on the map.

   If after making changes, you want to return to the defaults, click Reset to return to the default values.

3. Click Apply to activate the changes and return to the map.

   Click Cancel to close the dialog box without making any changes.

Filter map options

You can filter the view of the map for the variable you have chosen. This allows you to highlight specific values visually on the map. For example, when viewing the population by age in a block group, you can create a filter by selecting greater than and entering a value of 5,000. The map will only show color-shaded block groups where the population by age is more than 5,000 people.

Steps:

1. On the Legend tab, under Filter map options, click the Choose one drop-down menu.

   You can choose from None, Greater than, Less than, and Equal to. None is the default.

2. Click one of the options from the menu.
3. Type the value in the Enter Value text box.

   The map is automatically updated.

Color-Coded Data tab

Using the Color-Coded Data tab, you can view the data in a table or graph. You can use the toggle button to view the variable values or percentages. This feature can also be used after the map has been created.

Steps:

1. In Map Details, click the Color-Coded Data tab.

   To view the table, click the Table radio button.

   In the table view, you can click Export to Excel to export the data you see on the color-coded map.

   Note:

   For the U.S., only the first 100 block groups can be exported.

   For Canada, only the first 100 dissemination areas can be exported.
2. Place the pointer over an item in the table; the area on the map is highlighted.

   To view the graph, click the Graph radio button.

3. Place the pointer over an item in the graph; the area on the map is highlighted.

   The graph view shows only the top five among the geographies within the current view of the map.

Geography

Once you have selected the variable, you can select the geographic view. You can choose from Auto Selection, States, Counties, ZIP Codes, Census Tracts, and Block Groups. Auto selection is the default. You can override Auto Selection by choosing from any of the available geographies at a given scale.

Note:

Small geographies are not available at all zoom levels. When zooming out, a pop-up window appears to indicate that the selected geography cannot be viewed at this scale. You must zoom in to make the geography visible.

In the Create Color-Coded Map pane, click the Geography drop-down menu and click your selection.

The Map Detail and the map title show the variable and geography that you have chosen.

Colors

The Color drop-down menu allows you to select from a palette of colors for viewing the results from the variable in your map. You can choose from Yellow to red, Red to blue, Yellow to green, Blue monochrome, Red monochrome, Gray monochrome, Red to gray, Red to purple, Green to blue, Brown to green, and Orange to purple.

Note:

Color-coded map colors are derived from Cynthia A. Brewer, 2010.

Steps:

1. In the Create Color-Coded Map pane, click the Colors drop-down menu and the color choices appear.
2. Click the color you want to view in your map.

Transparency

The Transparency slider allows you to change the transparency percentage of the map view. The default is 30 percent.

Steps:

1. To change the transparency, use the Transparency slider in the Create Color-Coded Map pane.
2. Place the pointer over the transparency line and slide it to the left to decrease the transparency percentage or to the right to increase the transparency percentage.

More Options

More Options allows you to edit features on the map. You can change the Method, Classes, Border thickness, and Border color.

To access More Options, click More Options.

The More Options dialog box appears.

Method

Quantile provides classes with the same number of features. This is useful for data that is evenly distributed where you want to emphasize the difference in relative position between features. For example, using the Quantile method to display Per Capita Income results in an equal number of geographies in each class or value range.

The Equal Interval creates ranges (or classes) with equal spacing on the number line between the lowest and highest values of the variable. Equal Interval is useful when you want to emphasize the difference in values among geographies on the map. For example, using Equal Interval to display Per Capita Income results in few geographies having the color of the highest class and more geographies change to the color of the lower value range.

Manual allows you to define your classes, edit ranges and filter your map. You can change the classes on the More Options dialog box; however, use the Legend tab in Map Details to edit ranges and define the filter options.

On the More Options dialog box, click the Method drop-down menu and click your choice.

Classes

Classes allows you to select the number of classes that appear in the Legend in the Map Details. You can choose from 2, 3, 4, and 5. The default is 5.

On the More Options dialog box, click the Classes drop-down menu and click your choice.

Border thickness

Border thickness allows you to select the outline thickness of the selected geography. For example, if you've chosen Block Groups for your geography, the lines outlining your block groups are the thickness selected in Border thickness. You can choose from 1, 2, 3, and 4. The default is 1.

On the More Options dialog box, click the Border thickness drop-down menu and click your choice.

Border color

Border color allows you to select the color outline of the selected geography. For example, if you've chosen Block Groups for your geography, the lines outlining your block groups are the color selected in Border thickness. The default is black.

Steps:

1. On the More Options dialog box, click the Border color square, and a drop-down menu appears for you to click your color choice.
2. Click More Options to close the dialog box.

Place and Road Labels

The Place and Road labels allow you to view these labels on the map. These are unchecked by default.

• Click Place labels to see the place labels of a city, state, and so on.
• Click Road labels to see road and highway labels.