PolicyMap » Support

PolicyMap’s Primer Updated

Phil Vu — Mon, 09 Jan 2012 14:52:16 +0000

At PolicyMap, we know that our users’ needs are dynamic and always changing. We update our data as soon as the data sources are released, which could mean monthly, quarterly, or annual updates. We appreciate the feedback from our users so please submit any comments or questions to our team at pmap@policymap.com.

One of the more unique features we created last year was requested by a user like yourself. The Report Chooser was created to let users decide what geography a report uses to aggregated data by. We wrote an in-depth description of the feature here (Report Chooser) and now have updated our PolicyMap Primer.

Download the PolicyMap Primer

If you have questions about the new Report Chooser feature or would like to learn more about PolicyMap, contact us at info@policymap.com or join one of our free training sessions.

How to Customize a PolicyMap Widget

Phil Vu — Thu, 13 Oct 2011 15:42:45 +0000

Update:

(01/12/11) Set Location bar is now dynamic depending on the width of the embed map or widget
(02/03/11) Rankings in a widget now has the option to print
(10/14/11) Alternative widget layout

What is a widget? Widgets are customizable instances of PolicyMap maps with dynamic features such as the ability to zoom into or pan across a map, click on an area to view the underlying data or toggle between additional data layers and points of data.

Each widget is completely customized to our users’ needs. Users can decide the default location, type of datasets to display, and boundaries to overlay. Within the URL of the PolicyMap widget, there are commands which allow some basic customization of the widget, and outside the URL are customizations for the frame of the widget. Some of these customizations are only available if the widget was originally designed to have the feature.

We will use the free Unemployment Widget offered by PolicyMap (www.policymap.com/blog/?p=3395) to demonstrate the options to edit the widget.

Within the and anything outside the URL will customize the frame which contains the map. The iframe is the window that contains the map. Customization to the iframe are HTML options.

width=”value” – The width of the frame that contains the widget. Values can be in percentages or pixels
height=”value/px” – The height of the frame that contains the widget. Values can be in percentages or pixels (Note: the “height=” should be greater than the “&height” inside the URL)
scrolling=”value” – Choose yes or no to add vertical and horizontal scroll bars around the widget
marginwidth=”0″ – Side margins between the map and frame
marginheight=”0″ –> Top and bottom margins between the map and frame
frameborder=”0″ – You can add a border around the entire frame
name=”PolicyMap” – Give a widget a customized title

Within the but adding these options to the URL will customize the widget interface. Any customization in the URL is changing how the map looks and interacts.

&altLayout=true – Moves the Add Data Layer and Add Sites menu above the map. This is one of the most unique customization to the widget, which gives an alternative view.

&hideleg=true – Hide the legend as a default
&nomenus=true – Remove Add Data Layer and Add Sites from the widget
&search=true – Add a search function onto a widget. Please note that if your width is less then 770px, the Set Location bar will resize to a simple search bar without options for searching by pre-define geographies like census tract, school districts, metro areas, etc.
&nobounds=true – If a widget starts at a certain location on the map, add this to show the boundary for the starting location
&hideimenu=true – Hides the indicator menu
&hidepmenu=true – Hides the points menu
&mlon=true – Makes the map layer on as default
&ranking=true – Adds the ability to show the ranking of a location selected on the map

Add these options with a value to the URL will further customize the widget

&nb=value – Values from 2 to 8 are accepted. This sets the number of breaks used for the thematic data.
&rmp=color ramp – Changes the thematic colors. When this parameter isn’t set it uses the default purple colors. The options available for color ramps are: blue and olive.
&height=value – The height of the map in pixels, cannot be in percentages (Note: the “&height” should be less than the “height=” outside the URL).
&rstyle=value – Values from 1 – 3 are accepted. Changes the different styling for the rankings feature. Default style and color are shown if code is not added.

Using some of the above suggestions, users can make the unemployment widget look like so:

If you have questions about the widgets or want to learn more, please contact Phil Vu (phil.vu@policymap.com or 215-574-5896).

Updating our security certificates

Phil Vu — Wed, 02 Feb 2011 16:53:06 +0000

We recently made some upgrades to our security infrastructure which includes updating our SSL certificate. This was required for some of the upcoming enhancements in PolicyMap. Like all updates on PolicyMap, users did not have to do anything on their end and the update occurred seamlessly.

A handful of our users reported connectivity problems since this update, so we wanted to post a quick blog in case anyone else happens to be having connectivity issues, such as logging in or accessing certain parts of the program. You likely just need to clear your SSL certificates. This is a simple step and will allow your computer to download the latest SSL certificates.

For Internet Explorer and Firefox users, you just need to clear the SSL certificates in IE and the change will affect both browsers.

To do this

Open IE
Go to Tools
Select Internet Options

In the pop up

select the Content tab
select Clear SSL
then OK to close

This will clear your saved SSLs but keep all your previous login information.

Users of Google’s Chrome have a similar step.

Open Chrome
Select the “tool” icon
Select Options

In the Google Chrome Options pop-up open

Select the Under the Hood tab
Select “Clear browsing data…”
Check off “Delete cookies and other site data” (and optional “Empty the cache”)
Finally select the Clear browsing data button.

This will clear your SSL certificates and cookies on your Chrome browser, but it should not affect your login preferences.

For any other browser, please contact our support team at info@policymap.com or call us at (866) 923-MAPS.

Weekly trainings on PolicyMap’s new Data Loader feature

Phil Vu — Thu, 30 Dec 2010 14:37:56 +0000

With the addition of our latest feature, the Data Loader, we thought our users would like to join a training session specifically about how to use the feature. We will cover the basics of how to create and share a dataset, but will get further into customizations including icon changes and even adding images.

From there, we will show you how to use the map to display multiple datasets. We will also show you how to use the the See List feature to download your dataset.

Join us every Wednesday for our Data Loader and Analytics training. You can see all of our training times on our calendar here (click here).

If you want to learn on your own, we have a quick write up on how to use the Data Loader here (click here) or you can watch our video below.

For additional questions regarding PolicyMap, please contact our support team at info@policymap.com or call us at 866-923-MAPS (6277).

PolicyMap Primer

Phil Vu — Tue, 28 Dec 2010 16:08:44 +0000

From data layers to reports to Analytics to the Data Loader, PolicyMap offers many ways to interact with data. To help you become familiar with the system, we have created the PolicyMap Primer. This is a complete overview of all features and functions.

PolicyMap Primer v2.20

Updates to the Primer:

March, 2010 – New ways to build custom regions
April, 2010 – Interactive widgets
May, 2010 – Make time series maps using Edit Ranges
July, 2010 – Google aerial maps
November, 2010 – Updated See List and Set Location Bar
December, 2010 – Data Loader
February, 2011 – My PolicyMap Categories
March, 2011 – My Favorites
April, 2011 – Updated See Values
May, 2011 – Searching Add Sites and Updated Add Sites list
December, 2011 – Report Chooser

At PolicyMap, we strive to continually improve our application and will keep you posted as we update data, add new datasets or introduce new functionality. The Primer will also be updated as new features are added to PolicyMap.

If you would like more information on various features or have any questions about PolicyMap, please join us in our weekly trainings (open calendar) or contact us at (866) 923-MAPS (6277) or info@policymap.com.

PolicyMap’s Data Loader

Phil Vu — Wed, 17 Nov 2010 19:21:25 +0000

Subscribers can now create unique address level datasets to share with others or to overlay on top of PolicyMap’s thousands of data layers.

To get started, click onto the Upload/Edit Data button. This will begin your process for creating a dataset. There are three steps to initially setup a dataset.

1. First, select the method you will load data, for the moment, users can only add sites directly to the map, so select this option. The ability to upload a spreadsheet will be coming soon.

2. After selecting the method of loading data, you need to give your dataset a name.

3. Finally, decide how you want to share your dataset.

a. You can create a dataset just for their own use, which will not be seen by others.
b. You can make it available for the public to see on the map page in the Subscriber-published Sites option in Add Sites.
c. Or you can share it with individual users by adding their email addresses. Shared users will receive a link to view your dataset, and any individuals who are not currently a PolicyMap user will also receive a new login.

Once you have setup your dataset, click on to start adding addresses to your dataset.

Just like the maps page, you can start by using the Set Location bar to zoom into a neighborhood. To add an address, use the button, which will locate your address and drop an icon at the location, or to simply click anywhere on the map.

After finding a site or adding a site by selecting a point on the map, you can customize each site with the following options:

All locations must have a title
The description box is an open text box that allows you to add as much information as you would like for the site.
Additionally, you can add an image for the site. Images are not hosted on PolicyMap, so you should link the location of an image into the Image box. You will get an error if the image link is incorrect.
Users can also change the icon represented for all sites by selecting the box next to the title. This will show a selection of icons in various styles and colors. Please note, changing the icon will change all icons in this dataset.

Repeat this for all addresses or points you want to add to the dataset. All locations added to the dataset will be shown on the left side of the map.

At any time, you can edit a location by selecting the icon or delete a location with the icon. When you are done adding sites to your dataset, select

Users can create a new dataset at any time by selecting the Create New Dataset tab on top, or edit a saved dataset.

The Access/Edit My Dataset tab will display all previously created datasets. When you select the tab, you can click the “pencil” icon or the dataset name to open and begin editing an existing dataset. In editing, you have the same functions as you did when first creating a dataset; you can change the name, how the dataset is shared, add or remove sites, edit existing sites, or download the data and list of all the sites into a spreadsheet.

To load your datasets on the Maps or Analytics page, we’ve added a few new menus in the Add Sites section. My Sites will show all of the datasets you have created. My Sites will also include datasets that have been shared with your account from another user. Subscriber-published Sites underneath are datasets that other have chosen to share with the public as well as datasets that have been process by our team for subscribers. All datasets will show the person that created it and when it was created

You can click onto each site and view all data. If the location has an image attached to it, you can select the Click to View link to open.

You can edit any of your datasets by selecting the “pencil” icon. This will take you to the Upload/Edit Data tab with your dataset already loaded for editing.

You can also watch a video no how to use the Data Loader.

PolicyMap Videos – Data Loader

Phil Vu — Wed, 17 Nov 2010 19:19:57 +0000

The PolicyMap data loader is our newest feature for subscribers. Users now have the ability to create address level datasets. You can then share those datasets with other users, or overlay thematic data layers in PolicyMap on top of your dataset. This is a subscriber feature only but subscribers can share their datasets with anyone.

Read our walk through on how to use the Data Loader (click here), or watch our tutorial video below.

To learn more about PolicyMap, please attend one of our free weekly online trainings. Choose a date and time from our training calendar. For questions about subscriptions or PolicyMap, contact us at info@policymap.com or call us at (866) 923-MAPS.

Clear your cache if you are having problems with PolicyMap

Phil Vu — Tue, 19 Oct 2010 13:23:30 +0000

PolicyMap has recently updated one of our larger datasets, Claritas/Nielsen. If you have previously saved a map with 2009/2014 Claritas data, you still are be able to access the saved map images from My PolicyMap by selecting the download images for PDF, PNG, and JPEG. If you select the link to open on PolicyMap, the map will automatically update to the 2010/2015 Claritas data.

We’ve had reports from some users that the thematic map tiles for saved maps which originally had 2009/2014 Claritas data are not loading and showing a blank map. This could be caused by the cache in the computer and just needs to be cleared out.

Here are two easy ways to clear your cache:

For most browsers, you can simply hold the CRTL key down and press your F5 key. Your screen should refresh and the thematic map should load. This will delete the cache for the current map and allow the new 2010/2015 thematic maps to load.

If the first step did not work, you might need to clear the cache through your browser options. Here is a great wiki on most browser types and versions and the steps to clear the cache. (Click Here)

For more information or help, please contact us at info@policymap.com or (866) 923-MAPS.

Introducing My Sites and Shared Subscriber Sites

Maggie McCullough — Wed, 22 Sep 2010 14:22:33 +0000

Anybody visiting PolicyMap today will find two new tabs in the Add Site menu! The first is called My Sites. If you are a Premium Subscriber and send us data for upload, you’ll find just those datasets we’ve loaded for you when you login under this tab – making it simpler and faster to find the data you care most about.

The second is called Shared Subscriber Sites and is available to the public. This is where anyone can find data that we’ve loaded for other PolicyMap subscribers who are interested in sharing their information.

If you have data that you are interested in sharing with others through a tool like PolicyMap, just let us know at pmap@policymap.com or call (866) 923-MAPS!