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SimplyMap 3.0 Tip - Using the Data Filter

Posted on Oct 24, 2014 by Admin

At times it can be useful to apply filters to the data in SimplyMap as a means of focusing on specific characteristics, or preforming a query. For example, a map showing household income levels by ZIP Code could be filtered to only show ZIP Codes with income over a specific threshold.
Filters can be applied to any map or report. When a filter is applied to a report, the locations that do not meet the filter criteria can be stricken out in the report, or hidden entirely. Let’s look at an example.

If you run a ranking report for counties in the US with the most residents possessing a Bachelor’s degree, you will see the following:

counties

It turns out that the counties with the highest percentages of college graduates are found in lower population counties- Gunnison County, CO for example only has a population of 15,507. In order to analyze this data for larger population counties, we can apply a Data Filter. Here’s how:

1. From the Data Filters menu near the upper right corner of the window, select Create New Filter.

filter

2. The Create New Filter window will pop up. Select a recent variable, filter option, set a value for the filter, and provide a descriptive name.

filteroptions

3. After you select save, you’ll see a list of counties that meet your new criteria.

Below is the new list of counties (> 250,000 population) with the highest % of bachelor’s degrees.

newcounties

You may see a list of areas listed with a line through the middle to indicate the county has not reached your criteria (shown above). If you’d prefer to not see them at all, the display options menu has an option to hide them altogether.

2014-10-17_12-47-30

Here is what the results would look like if we hid those counties.

filter_with_hidden