Community Profiles User Guide
4. Adding Data
We start new profiles with a few default indicators, but you can add dozens more. This includes vulnerabilities (“area” data about populations and communities) and assets (“point” data about community resources and other locations).
4.1. Types of Data
Vulnerabilities
Most indicators in Community Profiles are “vulnerabilities”, data about populations and communities that are grouped by (aggregated to) geographic areas. Vulnerabilities are primarily statistics. These are usually indicators about people (e.g. race, income, educational outcomes) and structures (e.g. vacancy, year built, construction permits).
Vulnerabilities are shown in cards, maps, and tables. You can create a profile based on more than one place. For example, you can build a profile based on Brown County and Morgan County. In this case, we combine (or aggregate) all the data for both counties, so we can show you overall numbers for that combined area.
Assets
Community Profiles features many “assets”, data about resources and other locations. Assets are primarily locations. Many of our assets are social or government programs and services, but others are private market locations.
Assets are shown in cards and maps. When you select your area and create a profle, we will find all the assets that are within that area. If you choose Brown County and Morgan County and add data about fire stations, we will calculate how many fire stations are located in your area. In the card, we’ll show you this count, as well a list with all those locations. On the map, we show all locations in the region, whether or not they are in the area you selected.
4.2. Browse for Data
To add data, click the add data icon. This opens the “Add Data” pane, where you can find the indicator you’re looking for.
You can browse through the list. Scroll down to see all the indicators that are available.
Use the category buttons to filter the list. Vulnerabilities and assets are all grouped into this list. For example, when you click the “Education” category, you will see indicators about educational attainment and outcomes, and also assets like schools and early childhood facilities.
4.3. Search for Data
You can search for indicators using the search bar next to the “Add Data” icon. Type any text into this search bar and we’ll filter the indicators for you. This is a live filter, so you don’t need to hit enter to “submit” your search.
You will also notice that we filter the category buttons. We only display categories that have results matching your search.
The search is based not just on name, but on keywords that we’ve added to each indicator. So “students” should return indicators about ISTEP scores, educational attainment, etc.
4.4. Data Limits by Geography
When you choose your boundary type (when you’re selecting the area for your profile), this limits what data is available to you. This is because some data is collected for particular geographies types, but not others. For example, we provide data about how each school district performs on ISTEP and other educational outcomes. This data isn’t available by neighborhood, tract, or block group, but only by school district. So if you want to see this data in your dashboard, you need to build a profile based on one or more school districts.
Your data choices can also be limited, not just by what type of area you selected, but where your selected area falls. Our strong relationships with Marion County data providers has allowed us to offer indicators within Marion County that we cannot currently offer elsewhere. For example, we can offer indicators based on building permits in Marion County, because we receive that information from the City of Indianapolis. However, we don’t receive that data for any other county.