Creating thematic maps

With OnSite Solution, you can create thematic maps. A thematic map lets you convey information about a single topic or theme, such as total population. The thematic map lets you group data into different classes and represents the classes by color. You can analyze the colors to visually determine spatial patterns.

OnSite Solution is integrated with demographic data from Esri's Business Analyst to leverage extensive demographic, consumer spending, and business data to provide detailed information and insights about consumers, their lifestyles and buying behavior, and businesses in your market area.

To learn more about Business Analyst's U.S. demographic variables, reference the tables and attributes available here: http://www.esri.com/data/esri_data/pdfs/2010-esri-updated-demographics-data-list.pdf.

Note:

A thematic map is not a layer that can be turned on and off in the Map Layers. The thematic map is an overlay that can provide reference and statistical data to help you make informed decisions. You can display thematics on the map and change the opacity to view your study areas and basemaps underneath. To turn off the thematic map, return to the Thematics tab.

The thematics map cannot be stored long-term, however, you can create a map capture to archive a digital or hardcopy version of the thematic map. See Saving map images.

Steps:

1. Click Thematics.
2. Select a search variable:
   • Enter search variable(s) in the search box.
   • Browse to variables by selecting the search drop-down menu and click Browse Categories. On the Browse dialog box, highlight a category, and click Select. If a subcategory appears, select the desired subcategory and click Select.
3. Set the thematic map options:

   Aggregation Level	The Aggregation Level drop-down menu lets you select the geography level used to define the thematic boundaries. The Aggregation Level is scale-dependent based on your current map scale. You may need to zoom in or out if you do not see the desired aggregation level.
   Classify By	The Classify By menu lets you select the type of thematic map to display: Equal Interval is a method of dividing the total range of numeric values into categories so that each category covers an equal distance along the range of values. This method allows an equal distribution of range and emphasizes the amount of one attribute relative to another. Quantile is a method of dividing a range of numeric values into categories so that each category has the same number of values. This method allows equal distribution in each category by assigning the same number of data values to each class. Natural Breaks is a method that partitions data into classes based on natural groups in the data distribution. This method allows distribution according to the available data and emphasizes the difference between classes. Because similar values are grouped, this maximizes the differences between the classes.
   Classes	The Classes drop-down menu lets you select 2-10 classes, or breaks, for the thematic map. By default, the thematic map is created with 5 classes.
   Colors	The Colors menu lets you change the color ramp, or graduated colors, used for the thematic map.
   Opacity	The Transparency slider lets you modify the transparency and opacity of the thematic layer. At 0%, the thematic layer is opaque; at 100% the thematic layer is fully transparent.

   A thematic map is applied to the map based on the variable selected.

To clear the thematic map, click Clear and Exit.

The thematics map cannot be stored long-term, however, you can create a map capture to archive a digital or hardcopy version of the thematic map. See Saving map images.