Prerequisites

1. You must have created and activated your account.
2. You must have a current subscription.
3. You need access to at least one area layer and one location layer. If you have a new system, you may need to set these up. See here for how to do that.

Required time: Up to 10 minutes.

Vision displays data on top of a Google Map, providing you with the information you need to make the best decisions for your business.

In Vision, data comes in three flavours; Areas, Locations, and Demographics. Areas are displayed as boundary lines on the map. Locations are displayed as pins on the map. And demographics provide statistics that describe an area’s composition. Both areas and locations that form part of the same set of data are organised into groups we call layers.

Introducing the Layer Control

When you first log in to Vision, the layer control will be displayed on the left-hand side. The layer control displays all layers that you currently have access to. To turn layers on and off the map, simply click its name in the layer control. Let’s try turning an area layer on now.

You’ll see that the area layer you just turned on expanded, revealing additional controls beneath the name. The large button in the centre allows you to toggle labels for the areas on and off the map. Click it now to turn them on.

Try turning on a location layer in the same way. Depending on the number of locations within your layer, you may see that we’ve clustered them together to prevent flooding the map; these clusters will update automatically as you zoom in and out. There are no labels for location layers.

Introducing the Information Window

The information window displays detailed data on an area or location. Try clicking on the map over an area you want to view information for.

The information window (like all windows in Vision) is broken into three sections; the header, the data area, and the footer.

The header shows information such as the name and layer for the area. It also shows the unique key and classification when one has been set.

The data area lists all demographics that have been set to display on the area layer. Any custom fields set on the layer are also listed after the demographics.

The footer provides access to the action menu and allows you to close the information window when you are done.

Try clicking on a location to view information for it. You’ll notice it looks very similar except demographics are not displayed for locations.

Note: The information window is only available for individual locations, you can’t click on clusters. If you’re only seeing clusters, try zooming in until they separate.