Directions & Help
SEARCH FOR AVAILABLE PROPERTIES
To find available commercial properties select the type of property (retail, office, industrial or vacant land) you want to find from the pull down menu. To do this, click on the arrow and then select the category. Then type in the minimum and maximum area you want for a property. To find all properties in this category do not type anything into these boxes. You can select whether the property search will be by square feet or acres by clicking on the pull down menu and selecting "Square Feet" or "Acres. Next, click on the "search" button.
A new web page will be generated showing all of the properties matching your search requirements. Matching properties will be shown on the map and listed as a report. To get detailed information about any of these properties click on the icon on the map or an address listed in the text list report.
A new web page will be generated showing the property information in detail.
If you want to go back to see all of the matching sites click on the "back to sites" button near the top of the web page.
Click on the "New Search" button near the top of the web page
SEARCH FOR A PROPERTY BY ADDRESS
From the home page, type in the address of the property you want to view. Include the whole address. Then click on the "Search by Address" button below.
SEARCH FOR A PROPERTY BY PARCEL NUMBER
From the home page, type in the Parcel Number of the property you want to view. Include only the numbers and omit any hyphens. Then click on the "Search by Parcel" button below.
After finding a property, click on the "demographics" file tab located near the top of the web page. A new web page will be generated. Select the type of demographic report desired (demographics, consumer expenditures, business & workforce). Next type in the distance around the property you want the report to cover. Finally, click on the "calculate" button and a demographic report will be created. This information can be used to understand market characteristics of the site.
CREATE DEMOGRAPHIC DISTRIBUTION MAP DISPLAY
After finding a property, click on the "demographics" file tab located near the top of the web page. A new web page will be generated. The second of the two demographic reporting options is "Demographic Distribution Map Display" which is also know as "Thematic Mapping."
Thematic mapping of demographic variables will show the spatial distribution and concentrations of specific variables across a geographic view. For example, thematic mapping of population, income, retail spending and workforce characteristics can show the highest and lowest levels of these data points within the community.
User-defined thematic mapping allows a business the opportunity to identify optimal locations for their business with a powerful geographic visual overview. Thematic mapping combined with the hard-numbers of site-specific demographic radius analysis (which is the other type of demographic reporting feature) provides a powerful analytical tool to comprehend both macro and micro spatial analysis related to site selection.
To create a demographic distribution map display, first, select the Data Category from the pull down menu. A new "Variable" selection box will be shown. Next, select the then demographic variable to display from the pull-down menu. Second, select the number of "groups" for which the demographic variable will be shown on the map. The distribution of demographic concentrations will be shown as a series of colors. The more groups selected the larger the range of colors. Third, select the way you want the groups of demographic data to be displayed on the map. Selecting "Quantile" will display an equal number of geographic areas for each demographic range. For example, if you select 3 groups the result will be an equal number of geographic areas in each of the three ranges. Selecting "Equal Interval" will divide the demographic data numbers into group-ranges of the same size. For example, if the demographic data numbers range from 0 to 30 and you select 3 groups the equal intervals will be from 0 to 10, 11 to 20, and 21 to 30. Fourth, click on the "Display" button and the map interface will be zoomed out to a scale which allows you to see the demographic distribution of your selected variable on the map interface.
Equal Interval vs. Quantile
There are two different ways that the demographic variables can be displayed on the map interface: by Equal Interval or Quantile.
When the program displays data by "Quantile," it adds up all of the geographic areas (such as census blocks) and then divides that number by the amount of groups selected (step 2, which is described above). This results in an equal number of geographies for each group. The demographic data is divided so that each of the geographic areas for each group division will have an equal amount of data points. For example, let's assume Quantile is selected and three groups is selected and there are nine geographic areas (such as census blocks). Let's also assume the population for these nine geographies is 10, 20, 25, 26, 95, 105, 115, 205, and 330 people. In this case the quantiles would be divided into three groups with each group including 3 geographies. Group 1 would include the geographic areas for 10, 20 and 25 people; Group 2 would include the geographic areas for 26, 95 and 105 people; Group 3 would include the geographic areas for 115, 205, and 330 people. Each one of these groups is shaded with a different color on the map. Each color has an equal number of geographies shown on the map.
The other option for mapping a demographic variable is by "Equal Interval." As an example, let's assume "Equal Interval" is selected, three groups are selected and there are nine geographic areas being analyzed. Let's also assume the population for these nine geographies is 10, 20, 25, 26, 95, 105, 115, 205, and 330 people. The program would identify that 330 is the highest number of the demographic variables being analyzed. It would then take 330 and divide it by the number of groups selected. So 330 divided by 3 results in three groups of the following ranges: Group 1 will include 0 to 110; Group 2 will include 111 to 165; and Group 3 will include 166 to 330. Using the example numbers, Group 1 would include the geographic areas for 10, 20, 25, 26, 95 and 105 people; Group 2 would include the geographic area for 115 people; Group 3 would include the geographic areas for 205 and 330 people. Each one of these groups is shaded with a different color on the map. Geographies that fall within group 1 will have 6 of the same color; Group 2 will have one geographic area marked a different color; Group 3 will have two geographic areas marked with a different color.
After finding a property, click on the "businesses" file tab located near the top of the web page. A new web page will be generated. Type in the distance around the property you want the report to cover. Then, click on the "calculate" button and a demographic report will be created. A new web page will be generated that will list the businesses around that property by industry category. The businesses will be mapped by color as well as displayed as a list on the report. To view only one industry category click on the underlined link in the report area. This will generate a new web page showing only the businesses in that category on the map and a list of the business names with addresses in the report.
Under the map is a "scale" of circular buttons in between the words "zoom in" and "zoom out". The highlighted button shows the zoom scale at which the map is currently shown. To zoom in or out, click on the other buttons on the scale.
MOVING THE MAP N, S, E, W, NW, NE, SW, SE
To "pan" the map in a direction, click on any of the North, South, East, West, Northwest, Northeast, Southwest, or Southeast arrows surrounding the map.
VIEW MAP LAYERS OF INFORMATION
To view other "layers" of information on the map go to the area below the zoom scale and select a category by clicking on it. Next, check information on or off and then click the "display" button.