Welcome to our series on helpful tips for PolicyMap. With over 10,000 data indicators and many online features, we hope our series can help users better utilize PolicyMap. For a complete training, please join a free online session here: Click Here
Did you know that all users have a new and dynamic way to share maps on PolicyMap? We’ve recently added the Embed Map feature. An embed map is an interactive map that is displayed on your website, or any website, which a user can pan or zoom within the map.
Making an embed map to share is simple. After you have created the map you wanted to share, this can have the location set, data layer added, any customization you want with that data (e.g. change year, variable, edit ranges, or even color), and added the Add Sites you . Click on Embed on the bottom of the map:
Welcome to our series on helpful tips for PolicyMap. With over 10,000 data indicators and many online features, we hope our series can help users better utilize PolicyMap. For a complete training, please join a free online session here: Click Here
Did you know you can now use PolicyMap to see what a place actually looks like. We’ve added GoogleMap’s aerial images, which can now appear side by side next to PolicyMap’s shaded indicator map. Here at PolicyMap, we’re very excited about this new feature, so here’s a little tour of how it works.
Let’s say you’ve found an area of interest, such as census block group data in North End Boston with varying levels of median income. To enable aerial images, click on “Aerial” in the middle of the purple bar below the map.
Welcome to our series on helpful tips for PolicyMap. With over 10,000 data indicators and many online features, we hope our series can help users better utilize PolicyMap. For a complete training, please join a free online session here: Click Here
Did you know you can search for small geographies like Census Tracts and Block Groups. Finding census tracts and block groups is useful on the Maps page if you want quickly zoom into a neighborhood or on the Tables page to compare smaller geographies. To search for these small geographies, just select Census Tract or BG (for block group) from the Set Location bar at the top.
Here are some suggestions on how to search and find a census tract.
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Welcome to our series on helpful tips for PolicyMap. With over 10,000 data indicators and many online features, we hope our series can help users better utilize PolicyMap. For a complete training, please join a free online session here: Click Here
Did you know, building a custom region in PolicyMap gives subscribers the ability to create their own unique areas on the map, and then build reports for those areas. Subscribers have always had the ability to draw a custom region right on top of the map; these custom regions can cross predefined geographic boundaries like census tracts, zip codes, and counties.
Now users can draw a radius around an address or assemble a grouping of boundaries – like block groups, census tracts or zip codes – to create a custom region. To use these features, click the “Build Custom Region” in the bar along the bottom of the map and choose one of the three (3) types of custom regions: Drawn, Assembled, or Radius.
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Welcome to our series on helpful tips for PolicyMap. With over 10,000 data indicators and many online features, we hope our series can help users better utilize PolicyMap. For a complete training, please join a free online session here: Click Here
Did you know you can print a map of just your target area shaded and have the surrounding area clear? We call this feature "island printing." To use island printing:
- Search for your default location. Your searched location will be the area the map will shade by. (i.e. searching for Chicago will only shade the city of Chicago when you choose "island printing.")
- Create a map as normal with a data layer and Add Sites.
- When you are ready to print the map, choose "only shade selected region."
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Welcome to our series on helpful tips for PolicyMap. With over 10,000 data indicators and many online features, we hope our series can help users better utilize PolicyMap. For a complete training, please join a free online session here: Click Here
Did you know that PolicyMap runs best on Google’s Chrome browser? The free browser has been built by Google to accommodate websites like PolicyMap that run using lots of complex javascript. PolicyMap works on all other browsers as well (except IE6), but we’ve found that performance on Google Chrome is superior. We recommend you check it out. And it is free. Just go here to download.
We’ve had recent reports that certain features of PolicyMap are not working correctly for an Internet Explorer 6 (IE6) user. If you are an Internet Explorer 6 user on Windows XP SP1, please note that due to Microsoft’s lifecycle policy, PolicyMap does not support this browser version. Later versions including IE7 and IE8 work great with PolicyMap.
Are you not sure what type and version of internet browser you are using? Just open your browser used to access the web, and click on the HELP on the top of the browser and go to About [Name of Browser]. If you do not have HELP on the top, then select the browser option icon in the top right area. "About [Name of Browser]" will display your browser type and also the version.
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Welcome to our series on helpful tips for PolicyMap. With over 10,000 data indicators and many online features, we hope our series can help users better utilize PolicyMap. For a complete training, please join a free online session here: Click Here
Did you know subscribers can draw custom regions to aggregate data in reports and tables, and then quickly share those custom regions with any other subscribers? Custom regions allow a subscriber to draw their own boundaries that might not fit with pre-defined geographies. Custom regions can cross county lines, zip codes, census tract, and more. Users can aggregate data within a custom region in reports and tables, or add custom boundaries to maps and Analytics.
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Welcome to our series on helpful tips for PolicyMap. With over 10,000 indicators of data and many features, we hope our series can help users better utilize PolicyMap. For a complete training, please join a free online session here: Click Here
Did you know that clearing your computer’s temporary internet files can speed up your browser and also fix problems you might have using PolicyMap? Taking this simple step can eliminate issues on PolicyMap like maps not loading, not being able to search with the Set Location, or other odd experiences on PolicyMap?
Deleting temporary internet files is normally done by your network or computer during scheduled maintenance or a restart. But, if PolicyMap ever behaves oddly for you, this is a good maintenance step to take on your own and give your browser a fresh start to the internet. It will not delete any important files or information on your computer.
Depending on the browser you use, there are different ways to delete your temporary internet files (also known as “clearing your cache”).
- For Google Chrome – On the top right, select the wrench icon, and select Options. In the Personal Stuff tab, click “Clear browsing data…” in the Browsing data section. A new window will open, check off “Empty the cache” and select Everything for the period of time, and finally click Clear Browsing Data. Once complete, close all windows and the browser, and reopen Google Chrome.
- For Internet Explorer 7 & 8 – On the top of your browser, go to Tools and open Internet Options. In the General tab, click Delete in Browsing history, make sure Temporary Internet files is checked off and click Delete. Once completed, close and then reopen your browser.
- For Internet Explorer 6 or below – On the top of your browser, go to Tools and open Internet Options. In the General tab, click Delete Files, if a confirmation window comes up, click OK and proceed to delete your temporary internet files. Once completed, close and then reopen your browser.
- For Mozilla Firefox – On the top of your browser, go to Tools then Clear Private Data. Make sure Cache is checked off and click Clear Private Data Now. Once complete, close and then reopen your browser.
- MAC users using Safari – Click the Options icon and select Reset Safari. Once complete, close and reopen your browser.
And, of course, if you have any questions please send us an email or give us a quick call at 1-866-923-MAPS. Read our Quick Start Guide to learn the basics of PolicyMap and jump right into using the power of data.
If you wanted to know more about a feature or topic, send your request to info@policymap.com subject “Did you Know…”
Sincerely,
The PolicyMap Team
Welcome to our series on helpful tips for PolicyMap. With over 4,000 indicators of data and many features, we hope our series can help users better utilize PolicyMap. For a complete training, please join a free online session here: Click Here
Did you know subscribers can see where a geography ranks in a dataset on PolicyMap. Want to see how your state ranks in the nation? Or your city? Or even your census tract? Rankings will let you see how your location compares and also show the top 10 and bottom 10 locations in that dataset.
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Welcome to our series on helpful tips for PolicyMap. With over 4,000 indicators of data and many features, we hope our series can help users better utilize PolicyMap. For a complete training, please join a free online session here: Click Here
Did you know subscribers can download a complete spreadsheet of data for any location from the Tables page. This allows you to download all the values of data that make up a location; see all the values of each county in a state, zip codes in a city, census tracts in a county, or various combinations of geographies in one complete spreadsheet.
You access See Values by:
- Select the Tables button on the top left. This step requires you to add location(s) and a data layer.
- Open from the identifier bubble on the map and select See Table. This step will pull all the geographies in the ID bubble into the table and the current data layer loaded.
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