UrbanExplorer™ Platform
The UrbanExplorer™ Platform is a web GIS framework for displaying data across time and space. It features a variety of interconnected elements which make it unique, including "Vues", intergrated polygon and point layers, thematic time series mapping and "one click" selected area profiles.
Click on the links in the "UrbanExplorer Platform" navigation bar above to get a better understanding of how the UrbanExplorer™ platform could work for your needs.
Vues
UrbanExplorer™ provides “Vues” to a web mapping service such as Google Maps. A "Vue" is a themed “window” into a locality. This window is associated with a specific dataset (such as businesses, jobs, land parcels, energy use, etc) and provides interlocked queries, thematic mapping, and 3D temporal and spatial analysis tools to probe this dataset.
Clicking on a Vue tab will instantly redraw the corresponding data set across the map such that it is easy to visually compare related data sets for the same neighborhood, city or region featured on the map.
Polygons & Points
The nature of UrbanExplorer's map display makes a Vue unique. Two map layers, a polygon layer and a point layer, work in tandem to simultaneously display both aggregated and disaggregated data across the map. Thematic polygon layers provide a colored (or thematic) display of information aggregated to sub regions on a map (such as census tracts, city blocks, neighborhoods). These layers serve as a backdrop to the point layers or, if the point layer is toggled off, can be stand-alone.
Choosing different “backdrop” polygon regions may result in a very different depiction of the map. For example, a colored council district map will look entirely different from a zip code map when drawn relative to the point layer, given that the polygons will have different sizes and shapes and therefore will depict a distinctly different colored composition relative to the points. Depending upon the type of geo-political story one wants to tell, this may be very significant.
Thematic Time Series Mapping
See what effect the Great Recession has had on the industry sectors in your region over the past few years. Watch the annual energy use decrease across districts as people invest in solar panels.
The UrbanExplorer™ platform features thematic mapping by any variable, across time, coloring regions according to user-defined variables. An interactive timeline enables users to switch between years, and a "region ranking list" automatically re-sorts regions based upon the variables and year selected.
Just by choosing a year from the interactive timeline, you will see sophisticated dynamics of regional change. The map re-colors and regions re-sort themselves based upon the rank of that region relative to other regions for the chosen data set during that year
Selected Area Details
UrbanExplorer™ features a one click "Map Details" box for any selected area. The Map Details report includes toggle-controlled statistical summaries and detailed listings of the selected area. All area reports can be exported to Excel spreadsheets. Multi-year datasets are exported as multi-spreadsheet Excel workbooks, with one page dedicated to each year.
