Indicators

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.

Syntax

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. The colouring scale is standard, distribution of the values is geometric and the format of the value is set to display as British pound.

Indicator object syntax

{
    "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": "£"
        }
    }
}

Example of a dumped indicator

{
    "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"
            }
        ]
    }
}

Additional syntax examples

Example of an indicator with scaleOptions.static object

{
    "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

Example of an indicator with scaleOptions.defaultDistribution object

{
    "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.

Key description

content

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

• divergingWithZeroStandard, divergingWithZeroNegative 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)

areas	grid	zones	heatmap	dotmap	line

This object also enables Dominance visualization in the Compare tool ().

See the visualization examples below.

For a geometryPoint dataset to appear as a visualization type, the dataset must not be mentioned in any of the view's marker selectors (e.g. typically datasets representing stores, ATMs, etc.).

content.format

content.relations

Used in the case of departures/arrivals metrics. The details can be found in here.

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.

content.scaleOptions.static

This object sets the inner breaks of the scale interval. These breaks do not change when a filter is applied. 

content.scaleOptions.static.breaks

The values specified in breaks apply to the areas, grid, zones, dotmap and line visualizations.

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.

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.

Visual representation

Indicators are represented as a list of cards in a dashboard.

Turnover value indicator

In this area, the turnover value in selected time frame is 688,424 £.

Turnover value indicator after a mouse hover

Turnover value indicator with a mouse hover on the fitness

This ranks the area as 16th, which gives it a 90 percentile.

Turnover value indicator with a mouse hover on the Visualize button

Three indicators in a specific area

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.

Indicator scales and visualizations

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	areas	grid	dotmap	line	heatmap
standard
positive
negative
inverse
binaryStandard
binaryNegative
divergingStandard
divergingNegative
divergingWithZeroStandard
divergingWithZeroNegative

scale / visualization	areas	grid	dotmap	lines	heatmap
heat
heatmap
traffic
trafficInverse
magma
viridis