Create Comparison Reports

The Create Comparison Report allows you to create reports that compare your sites based on a set of popular categories. These popular categories include population, households, income, and housing as well as customizable reports. Options also include comparing your sites to a benchmark and geographies.

Steps:
  1. Click the Get Reports tab and click Create Comparison Reports.

The Create Comparison Reports pane opens with the Comparison Report Setup dialog box. By using the following steps, you can create your comparison reports.

Choose the sites you want to compare from the site panel above.

The sites you have selected by clicking the check box of the site in the site panel appear in the Selected Sites list in step 1. As a default, the first site in the site panel is automatically selected.

The following options help you tailor your comparison report for these selected sites.

Selected geographies to compare to your sites.

This second optional step allows you to compare the selected sites against the respective geographies. Selecting a geography from the drop-down lists will add the site to the comparison graphs and table in step 3. The geographies available in each drop-down list are based on the sites you select in step 1.

This step alleviates the creation of geography sites for comparison purposes. If you want to compare sites to a geography that is not automatically available in the drop-down lists in step 2, you can create a geography site under Select Location, using Select Geographies, and select it for comparison in step 1.

Each drop-down list is populated based on the sites you have selected. For example, for a point-based site, the ZIP Code drop-down list includes the ZIP Code where the point-based site lies. For a hand-drawn polygon, all ZIP Codes that the polygon touches are added to the ZIP Code drop-down list.

Select a site or geography to use as a benchmark.

This third optional step allows you to select a site, geography, or summary statistic to benchmark for comparison and see how the other selected sites and geographies compare to the benchmark values. The sites available for selection as a benchmark are the same as those selected in step 1. The geographies are the same as those available in step 2. In addition, you can select the average or median values calculated from all the selected sites in step 1 to serve as a benchmark. This is useful if you do not have a benchmark site but still want to see which sites selected in step 1 are above or below average relative to each other.

View graphs and tables for popular variables.

You can choose from Population, Households, Income, and Housing, or you can customize your own comparison report.

Steps:
  1. Click one of the buttons (Population, Households, Income, or Housing) to view the results of your Comparison Report setup.

    The Comparison Report appears containing the results of your selection from the steps in the previous page.

    The appearance of the results will vary depending on your selection; however, the viewing options are similar for Population, Households, Income, and Housing.

    Select graph view or table view
    The tabs allow you to see the results of the other options. You can select the view using the toggle for graph view or table view. Graphs view is the default.

    Graphs View

    The Graphs View offers selections different from Table View.

    Select mile rings or minutes for your sites.
    Sites appear on the X-axis and the values appear on the Y-axis. The arrow below the site name allows you to select the different mile, rings, or minutes, which are shown in the respective graph.

    NoteNote:

    The Households tab does not include this capability.

    If a benchmark site has been selected, it appears first on the graph and is indicated as the Benchmark.

    Select the year You can also select the data to view using the toggle for 2012 or 2017. The default is 2012.

    Select the variables.
    The variables drop-down list provides preselected variables from which you can choose.

    Select the years.
    The years drop-down list provides preselected years from which you can choose.

    NoteNote:

    The Households tab does not include this capability.

    Click to return to the Comparison Report Setup.
    You can return to the Comparison Report Setup page any time by clicking Back to Comparison Report Setup.

    Click Print to print the report.

    Click Save to save the report as a .jpg, .png, or .gif.

    Table View

    Table View presents the comparison data in a tabular view and provides options for manipulating the table.

    Select the layout for your variables.

    You can select the layout for the variables to appear in columns or rows and click the check box to expand rings, drive times, or donuts.

    Click Print to print the report.

    Click Export to Excel to export the table to an Excel file.

Custom Comparison Reports

You can create custom comparison reports to rerun at any time. These reports can be used to compare metrics from variables you select and save for future analysis. Once saved, the reports are available in My Lists for easy retrieval.

Steps:
  1. From the Comparison Report Setup dialog box, click the Customize button in step 4. Or, from the Comparison Report screen within the population, households, income, or housing screens, click the Customize tab.

    Choose the variables that you want to use for your customized comparison report.

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

    1. Select the category for the data you want to use.
      Choose the category.

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

      • Click the # button. If you click the # button, it maps the value for the selected variable.
      • Click the % button. 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.

      Market Potential Data

      See the Esri Market Potential methodology paper for more information.

      • Click the # button. 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.
      • Click the % button. 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.
      • Click the Index button. 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 are on par with the national average with regard to the specified behavior or preference. An index greater than 100 indicates the specified local preference or behavior is above the national average. An index less than 100 indicates 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.

      • Select the # button. If you select the # button, the results will be the total household spending for the selected product or service to be mapped.
      • Select the Avg button. If you select the Avg button, the results will be the average household spending for the selected product or service to be mapped.
      • Select the Index button. 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.
    2. Select the year of data you want to use.
      Choose the year.
    3. The list of variables appear under Available Variables.

      To search, type the words for the search in the search text box. Click Go.

      The results of your search appear.

    4. Click the variable that you want to use. Use the arrows to add or remove the variables from the Selected Variables list.
    5. Repeat steps a through c to add other Selected Variables.
    6. Click Apply.
  2. In Available Variables, on the left, click the plus sign to expand the options in the list.
  3. Click the check box for the variables you want in the customized report.

    The checked variables appear under Selected Variables in the right column.

    Continue until you have added all the variables you want to include in the report.

    To clear the selected variables, click Clear all.

To save lists

Once you have selected the variables for your list, you can save them.

Steps:
  1. Click Save.
    2. The Save Variable List appears.
  2. Type the name in the List Name text box and click Save.

The saved lists appear in My Lists.

My Lists

You can quickly access saved variables using the My Lists dialog box. My Lists contains the variables that you have saved along with the Popular Variables List that is automatically provided by Esri.

Click My Lists and click the list you want to use. This selected list will be populated in the Available Variables section.

Search

You can also search for variables.

Steps:
  1. Type the variable name in the search variables text box and click Go. Type a variable name and click Go.

    The results appear under Available Variables.

  2. Check the check box for the variables you want in the customized report.

    The variables appear under Selected Variables in the right column.

To clear the Search

Steps:
  1. To clear the search, click Clear search.

    This appears only after you've done a search.

  2. Click Clear all to clear the Selected variables.

View Report

Once you have selected the variables for your custom comparison report, you can click View Table or View Graph to view the results in the respective table.


Copyright © 1995-2013 Esri. All rights reserved.