Step 1: Creating a new study area

A study area defines an area of influence around a location, such as a store, a facility, or a customer. A study area allows you to determine your market and analyze your market penetration to determine viability and gaps in a particular location.

Essentially, a study area is the geographic boundary defining your analysis extent. This boundary can also be analyzed in reports. Study areas can be defined by rings (radii), donuts (bands), drive-time polygons, hand drawn shapes, or standard geographic areas. Creating a new study area is the first step in the Create a Study Area wizard.

Note:

Only one study area can be active at a time.

This topic describes how to create a new study area using the following methods:

Creating a study area is the first step in the report wizard. Click Next to continue through the wizard.

Enter an address

You can create a study area using an address or intersection. The address or intersection can be used to locate the center of your study area.

Example input values for address can be:

Street address: 430 N Michigan Ave, Chicago, IL, 60611

Intersections: N Michigan Ave & E North Water St, 60611

If your search returns multiple results, you will have the option to select the best candidate from the matched results.

Steps:

Select a country from the drop down menu (Optional).
When you select a country, this allows you to define your area of interest. Additional functionality may be supported in certain countries.
You do not need to define a country each time you create a study area. When you create a study area, the current country selected will be used by default.
On the Task Menu, click Create a Study Area.

The Create a Study Area dialog box opens.
Click Enter an address.
The Create a Study Area dialog box changes to display a wizard format. The dialog box shows step 1 of 4.
Enter an address or intersection in the text box.

The following is an example of acceptable address formats:

430 N Michigan Ave, Chicago, IL
430 N Michigan Ave, 60611
N Michigan Ave & E North Water St, 6011

Note:

If you enter an intersection, you must include the ZIP code for the street locations.

Click Find.
The map zooms to the location and labels the address with a marker.
Click Next.
The Create a Study Area wizard proceeds to step 2. See Step 2: Defining a study area type.

Draw on the map

You can define a study area by drawing on the map. This lets you define a custom area by drawing a line or a polygon on the map. The draw tools are helpful when designating an area which does not exist in a standard geography and lets you create a study area of any shape or size.

The pen tool lets you draw a line or polygon using a freehand tool. This tool lets you draw continuously when the left mouse button is held down.

A polygon is a closed shape defined by a connected sequence of x,y coordinate pairs, where the first and last coordinate pairs are the same and all other pairs are unique. A polygon needs a minimum of three points on the map.

Steps:

Select a country from the drop down menu (Optional).
When you select a country, this allows you to define your area of interest. Additional functionality may be supported in certain countries.
You do not need to define a country each time you create a study area. When you create a study area, the current country selected will be used by default.
On the Task Menu, click Create a Study Area.

The Create a Study Area dialog box opens.
Click Draw on map.
The Create a Study Area dialog box changes to display a wizard format. The dialog box shows step 1 of 3.
Click one of the following selection tools:
- Polygon Tool - Click at least 3 points on the map to draw a polygon. Double-click to end the polygon.
- Pen Tool - Click and hold the mouse on the map to draw. Release the mouse to finish the polygon.
As you draw on the map, a polygon displays. At any time, you can click Start Over to clear your drawing from the map.
The study area is highlighted on the map and labeled Polygon Study.
Click Next.
The Create a Study Area wizard proceeds to step 2. See Step 3: Naming a study area.
Note:
The system will precent the user from creating a self-intersecting polygon study area.
Each method of creating a study area contains a different wizard. When you create a study area by drawing on the map, you do not have to define a study area type.

Click on the map

You can select a location for the study area by clicking on the map. Once selected, the location will be noted on the map with a marker that includes latitude and longitude values.

Note:

You may find it helpful to use the Find tool to zoom into an area of interest.

Steps:

Select a country from the drop down menu (Optional).
When you select a country, this allows you to define your area of interest. Additional functionality may be supported in certain countries.
You do not need to define a country each time you create a study area. When you create a study area, the current country selected will be used by default.
On the Task Menu, click Create a Study Area.

The Create a Study Area dialog box opens.
Select Click on map.
The Create a Study Area dialog box changes to display a wizard format. The dialog box shows step 1 of 4.
Click on the map at the location of the desired study area.
As you move the mouse over the map, the coordinate location is displayed in the Create a Study Area dialog box.
Click Set Point.
The point location is labeled on the map with the coordinate location.
Click Next.
The Create a Study Area wizard proceeds to step 2. See Step 2: Defining a study area type.

Upload a file

OnSite Solution supports geocoding from either Excel or CSV documents. Geocoding is the process that assigns a street or coordinate location and draws the location on the map.

You can upload locations to create multiple study areas. You can upload point data from an Excel (*.xls, *.xlsx) or CSV (*.csv) file. To upload a point for geocoding, the Excel or CSV should have columns that map to the Name field, and one of the following fields: ZIP, State, or Lat and Long.

When you have mapped both the street address and the Lat and Long fields from the upload file, the OnSite application will use the Lat and Long fields to geocode the point location.

Note:

The number of study areas uploaded from a file is limited to 100 locations.

If your upload file contains addresses from multiple countries, only locations that fall inside the currently defined country are geocoded on the map.

The first row of an uploaded study area file must contain column headers.

Note:

The Name field is used to label the uploaded points on the map. For example, if your Excel file contains a column named Store ID, you can set the Name field to Store ID. Once the points are geocoded, the points are labeled on the map by Store ID.

Steps:

Select a country from the drop down menu (Optional).
When you select a country, this allows you to define your area of interest. Additional functionality may be supported in certain countries.
You do not need to define a country each time you create a study area. When you create a study area, the current country selected will be used by default.
On the Task Menu, click Create a Study Area.

The Create a Study Area dialog box opens.
Click Upload a file.
The Create a Study Area dialog box changes to display a wizard format. The dialog box shows step 1 of 6.
Click Browse.
The Select file to upload dialog box appears.
Navigate to and highlight the file to upload.
Click Open.
The Create a Study Area dialog box displays a progress bar of the upload.
Click Upload.
A progress bar displays as the file uploads, and a confirmation message appears once the load process is complete.
Click Next.
Pick the appropriate columns from your file.
Click Set Columns.
Click Next.
Review the matches.
On this panel, you can manage and edit your uploaded results. The table shows matched records, records with multiple matches, and records with no matches. In this step, you can correct addresses that were not matched or that had multiple matches.
Note:
Only Matched points are geocoded on the map.
Click Next.
The Create a Study Area wizard proceeds to step 4. See Step 2: Defining a study area type.
Note:
Each method of creating a study area contains a different wizard. When you create a study area by uploading a file, there are additional steps in the wizard that you must complete.

Select a standard geography

A study area can be defined using a standard geography. A standard geography is an area surrounded by a defined border, such as states, counties, core-based statistical areas (CBSA), or designated market areas (DMAs). Some geographies are scale-dependent, so you may need to zoom in or out to enable the geography selection.

Standard geographies are country specific. The following table outlines the available standard geographies by country.

Standard geographies by country

Country	Standard geographies
Canada	Block groups Dissemination areas Forward sortation areas Census tracts Census metro and agglomeration areas Census subdivisions Census divisions Federal electoral districts Provinces and territories
Mexico	Estados (states) Municipios (municipalities)
United States	Block groups ZIP codes County Congressional districts State Major Market (DMA) Metropolitan areas (CBSA)

You can select up to 10 standard geographies in your study area.

Note:

Geographies do not need to be coincident or adjacent when selecting a standard geography. Standard geographies can include regions that are not touching. A study area can contain several geographies from one standard boundary layer, for example, multiple ZIP codes.

Major markets, such as DMAs, are based on the Nielsen Media Research television market. Metropolitan areas, used in CBSA, contains at least one urban area with a population of at least 10,000 people.

Steps:

Select a country from the drop down menu (Optional).
When you select a country, this allows you to define your area of interest. Additional functionality may be supported in certain countries.
You do not need to define a country each time you create a study area. When you create a study area, the current country selected will be used by default.
On the Task Menu, click Create a Study Area.

The Create a Study Area dialog box opens.
Click Select standard geography.
The Create a Study Area dialog box changes to display a wizard format. The dialog box shows step 1 of 3.

Select standard geographies using any of the following methods:

In the Current Map	This option lets you view standard geographies that are in the current map extent. Click the In the Current Map tab. Select a standard geography. Note: Standard geographies vary based on the active country. Double-click a result to select.
Click on Map	This option lets you click on the map and see a list of standard geographies that contain the map point. Click the Click on Map tab. Select a standard geography. Note: Standard geographies vary based on the active country. Click anywhere on the Map. Double-click a result to select.
By Lat/Long	This option lets you select standard geographies of a single level by name or ID from a list which represents standard geographies that contain a map coordinate. Click the By Lat/Long tab. Select a standard geography. Note: Standard geographies vary based on the active country. Enter the latitude and longitude and click Search. Double-click a result to select
Search All	This option lets you query a standard geography by name or ID. Click the Search All tab. Enter a query: Name ID Select a standard geography. Note: Standard geographies vary based on the active country. Click Search. Double-click a result to select.

You can select up to 10 standard geographies. Any method or combination of methods can be used to select standard geographies.

Click Next.
The Create a Study Area wizard proceeds to step 2. See Step 3: Naming a study area.
Note:
Each method of creating a study area contains a different wizard. When you create a study area by selecting standard geographies, you do not have to define a study area type.

Enter a latitude and longitude coordinate

A study area can be defined with latitude and longitude coordinates. This allows you to pin point an exact location for your study area.

Note:

The input format uses decimal degrees for the latitude and longitude coordinates.

Steps:

Select a country from the drop down menu (Optional).
When you select a country, this allows you to define your area of interest. Additional functionality may be supported in certain countries.
You do not need to define a country each time you create a study area. When you create a study area, the current country selected will be used by default.
On the Task Menu, click Create a Study Area.

The Create a Study Area dialog box opens.
Click Enter a latitude/longitude.
The Create a Study Area dialog box changes to display a wizard format. The dialog box shows step 1 of 4.
Enter a latitude coordinate.
Enter a longitude coordinate.
Click Apply.
The map zooms to the coordinate locations. The location is noted on the map with a tooltip that shows the latitude and longitude coordinates.
Click Next.
The Create a Study Area wizard proceeds to step 2. See Step 2: Defining a study area type.

2/24/2012