An indicator represents a phenomenon that can be displayed on a map. It allows the user to configure how the phenomenon will be displayed. Indicator has a reference to a metric, which is a mathematical expression of the phenomenon. Indicators are further analysed in indicator drills, with whom they are paired with and displayed in a dashboard.
With an object (marker or an area) selected, indicator also shows fitness on a mouse hover. Fitness ranks the object among others and also shows the percentile.
See the combinations of indicator scales and visualizations in action in the Features Catalog for Developers project. |
This is the Turnover value indicator from the Catchment Area view of the Retail Solution Demo.
You can see that it's linked to the turnover_metric
. T
he coloring scale is standard
, distribution of the values is geometric
and the format
of the value is set to display as British pound.
{ "name": "turnover_indicator", "type": "indicator", "title": "Turnover value", "description": "Total turnover of all purchases. It indicates how much money your customers have spent.", "content": { "metric": "/rest/projects/$projectId/md/metrics?name=turnover_metric", "scale": "standard", "distribution": "geometric", "visualizations": { "heatmap": true, "dominance": true }, "format": { "type": "number", "fraction": 0, "symbol": "£" } } } |
{ "url": "/rest/projects/yufqzxkbiecj7jot/md/indicators/ckhk3hursnbncsoo", "dumpTime": "2018-01-25T14:19:38Z", "version": "3", "content": { "id": "ckhk3hursnbncsoo", "name": "turnover_indicator", "type": "indicator", "title": "Turnover value", "description": "Total turnover of all purchases. It indicates how much money your customers have spent.", "content": { "metric": "/rest/projects/$projectId/md/metrics?name=turnover_metric", "scale": "standard", "distribution": "geometric", "visualizations": { "heatmap": true, "dominance": true }, "format": { "type": "number", "fraction": 0, "symbol": "£" } }, "accessInfo": { "createdAt": "2017-10-05T08:26:59Z", "modifiedAt": "2017-10-13T10:56:44Z" }, "links": [ { "rel": "self", "href": "/rest/projects/yufqzxkbiecj7jot/md/indicators/ckhk3hursnbncsoo" } ] } } |
{ "name": "turnover_indicator", "type": "indicator", "title": "Turnover value", "description": "Total turnover of all purchases. It indicates how much money your customers have spent.", "content": { "metric": "/rest/projects/$projectId/md/metrics?name=turnover_metric", "scale": "standard", "distribution": "geometric", "visualizations": { "heatmap": true, "dominance": true }, "format": { "type": "number", "fraction": 0, "symbol": "£" }, "scaleOptions": { "static": [ { "dataset": "/rest/projects/$projectId/md/datasets?name=postcodes", "breaks": { "global": [ 10000, 20000, 40000, 80000 ], "selection": [ 1000, 2000, 4000, 8000 ] }, "maxValues": [ { "zoom": 18, "global": 100000, "selection": 10000 } ] } ] } } } |
This indicator has the content.scaleOptions.static
object set. Few points to note:
if no dataset
is specified, the breaks will be applied to all datasets (all granularities)
it's possible to specify either global
or selection
values (or both, like in this example)
the values specified in breaks
object apply to areas
, grid
, zones
, dotmap
and line
visualizations, whether maxValues
apply only to the heatmap
visualization
{ "name": "turnover_indicator", "type": "indicator", "title": "Turnover value", "description": "Total turnover of all purchases. It indicates how much money your customers have spent.", "content": { "metric": "/rest/projects/$projectId/md/metrics?name=turnover_metric", "scale": "standard", "distribution": "geometric", "visualizations": { "heatmap": true, "dominance": true }, "format": { "type": "number", "fraction": 0, "symbol": "£" }, "scaleOptions": { "defaultDistribution": { "breaks": [ 100000, 200000, 300000, 400000, 500000, 600000 ], "displayIntervals": [ 0, 1, 3, 4 ] } } } } |
This indicator has the content.scaleOptions.defaultDistribution
object set.
content
Key | Type | Optionality | Description | Constraints |
---|---|---|---|---|
| string | URL link to the metric object |
| |
| string | sets the scale coloring, see the examples below default = |
| |
| string | defines the distribution of the indicator values default = |
| |
| object | object specifying available visualizations of the indicator | ||
| object | object specifying formatting of the indicator value | ||
| object | object specifying the relations of the indicator's metric | ||
| object | object specifying the scale options |
The scale
key sets the coloring of the scale. Each scale
fits a different use case and indicator values.
standard
scale has 5 segments and is generally used for any indicator, e.g. average purchase value
positive
scale has 5 segments and is generally used for positive indicators, e.g. increase of customers
negative
scale has 5 segments and is generally used for negative indicators, e.g. decrease of customers
inverse
scale has 5 segments and is the same as standard
, but the colors are flipped, it can be used to identify e.g. white spots on a map
binaryStandard
scale has 2 segments and is used the same way as standard
, but just for binary values, e.g. to indicate if there is a shop in the area, or not
binaryNegative
scale has 2 segments and is used the same way as negative
, but just for binary values, e.g. to indicate if the area had a decrease of customers, or not
divergingStandard
scale has 6 segments and is used for indicators that can positive and negative values, e.g. turnover value difference
divergingNegative
is used the same way as divergingStandard
scale, but the colors are flipped, it can be used to indicate e.g. competition turnover value difference
divergingWithZeroStandarddivergingWithZeroNegative
scales have 5 segments, with a neutral middle segment
heat
, heatmap
, traffic
, trafficInverse
, magma
, viridis
scales have 5 segments
See the scales coloring visual representation below.
The distribution
affects the intensity of the coloring from the beginning to the end of the scale. The rule of thumb when picking the correct distribution
is to try them both, and see what works best for each indicator.
content.visualizations
An indicator can have multiple types of visualizations. Currently, we offer six types of visualizations:
areas
(based on geometryPolygon
subtype dataset)
grid
(based on geometryPolygon
subtype dataset)
zones
(based on geometryPolygon
subtype dataset)
heatmap
(based on geometryPoint
subtype dataset)
dotmap
(based on geometryPoint
subtype dataset)
line
(based on geometryLine
subtype dataset)
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This object also allows to enable the Dominance visualization in the Compare tool ().
See the visualization examples below.
Key | Type | Optionality | Description | Constraints |
---|---|---|---|---|
| boolean | enables areas visualization |
| |
| boolean | enables grid visualization |
| |
| boolean | enables zones visualization |
| |
| boolean | enables heatmap visualization |
| |
| boolean | enables dotmap visualization |
| |
| boolean | enables line visualization |
| |
| boolean | enables the dominance visualization in the Compare tool |
| |
| decimal | sets the scale factor of a heatmap visualization | x => 0.0 |
For a |
content.format
Key | Type | Optionality | Description | Constraints |
---|---|---|---|---|
| string | type of the format the |
| |
| integer | the number of places after the decimal point | x => 0 | |
| string |
|
|
content.relations
Used in the case of departures/arrivals metrics. The details can be found in here.
Key | Type | Optionality | Description | Constraints |
---|---|---|---|---|
| string | type of the relation |
| |
| string | URL link to the reversed metric object |
|
content.scaleOptions
This object is used to set the options of the indicator scale. It allows you to set the default values of its corresponding indicator drill's distribution
block.
See complete indicator example above.
Key | Type | Optionality | Description | Constraints |
---|---|---|---|---|
| array | array of static specifies the default settings of a | x => 0 | |
| object | specifies the default settings of a |
content.scaleOptions.static
This object sets the inner breaks of the scale interval. These breaks do not change when a filter is applied.
Key | Type | Optionality | Description | Constraints |
---|---|---|---|---|
| string | URL link to the dataset representing a granularity, on which the breaks will be applied only if not specified, the breaks will be applied to all datasets (all granularities) |
| |
| object | object representing the break values | ||
| array | array of maximal values for the | x => 0 |
content.scaleOptions.static.breaks
The values specified in breaks apply to the areas
, grid
, zones
, dotmap
and line
visualizations.
Key | Type | Optionality | Description | Constraints |
---|---|---|---|---|
| array | array of distribution break values (integer or decimal) these breaks will be applied when no object is selected |
| |
| array | array of distribution break values (integer or decimal) these breaks will be applied when an object is selected (area or a marker) |
|
content.scaleOptions.static.maxValues
Values used for tuning the scale of the heatmap
visualization. When maxValues
are specified, the content.visualizations.heatmapScaleFactor
property is ignored.
Key | Type | Optionality | Description | Constraints |
---|---|---|---|---|
| integer | zoom level, for which the no need to specify all 16 zoom levels - when one level is specified, the rest is computed as a result of a geometric series |
| |
| decimal | global scale value (= no marker selected) |
| |
| decimal | selected scale value (= when a marker is selected) |
|
content.scaleOptions.defaultDistribution
This object allows you to set the default values (including outer breaks) of the indicator's corresponding indicator drill's distribution
block. These settings are reset when a filter is applied.
Key | Type | Optionality | Description | Constraints |
---|---|---|---|---|
| array | array of exactly 2 elements representing distribution range, i.e. lowest and highest value (integer or decimal) | ||
| array | array of distribution break values (integer or decimal) |
| |
| array | specifies which scale intervals should be displayed |
Indicators are represented as a list of cards in a dashboard.
In this area, the turnover value in selected time frame is 688,424 £.
This ranks the area as 16th, which gives it a 90 percentile.
Here, we see an area - Oscott ward in the Birmingham district, described by three indicators. They tell us that a total of 912 customers live in this area, and the average number of purchases per customer is 1.20. In the selected time frame, these customers generated 104,497 £ turnover.
These are the possible combinations of indicator scale
and visualizations
. Please note that the heatmap
visualization is only available with a standard
scale.
scale / visualization |
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scale / visualization |
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