Part 2 - Creating your first area

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.
4. You need editing permissions.

Required time: Up to 10 minutes.

Creating an area is really easy in Vision. These instructions cover the most popular way to create an area, where one or more areas in one area layer (base area layer – a good example are Postcodes) are grouped together to create a single, larger area in another area layer (target area layer). If you want to hand-draw your boundaries, see detailed instructions here.

Let’s start by making sure you’ve positioned the map where you want to create a new area. Remember you can use the search feature to get there faster! We’ve gone for Peterborough in the UK.

Next, make sure the target area layer you want to create a new area in is turned on. Your screen should look similar to this.

Open the Action Menu for the layer and click on the green button titled ‘Create new area’.

This starts the area editor and performs any setup necessary to perform the task. Note that it automatically activates the base area layer and moves it to the top of the country group, ensuring you can interact with the areas unhindered.

You might at this point want to turn on the labels for the base area layer, if they are not already displayed.

Start selecting base areas by clicking on them on the map to create your new one. If you make a mistake, don’t worry, you can simply click an area again to deselect it. If you’ve set them up, you’ll notice how each selection updates the demographic totals on the right-hand side. When you’re done, simply click the green button titled ‘Continue’ in the bottom-right.

You’ll now be able to see a summary of the demographic values on your new area.

To complete the process, simply give the area a name and (optionally, if you’ve set them up on the layer) select a classification to assign. When you’re finished, click the green button titled ‘Save’ in the bottom-right. This will close the area editor, and your new area will be shown on the map.

Well done, you’ve just created your first area in Vision!