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Adding your own datasets

You may add your own datasets to display on GeoInform. The data that you add will be available to anybody using GeoInform. For the purposes of this help page we'll imagine that you are uploading a list of care homes.

You will add data using a CSV file upload which can be either comma or tab delimited.

Your CSV file should contain a row for each marker to be displayed on the Geoinform map. So in our care home example, each row will represent a single care home location.

The columns in your file will determine:

  • where the marker or area is located
  • how the makers are labelled
  • what is shown on the pop-up when you click on the marker

Your CSV file must include column headers, but it does not matter what the column headers are called. When you import your CSV file you will be able to select which column is used for which purpose.

Your CSV file MUST include the following information - this is the minimum that is needed to display a location on the Geoinform map:

  • A column to represent the name of the marker. In our example, this will be the name of the care home.
  • A column or columns to represent the position of the location. This will vary depending on whether your markers are positioned to a specific point/postcode (e.g. an address) or if they relate to an area such as a local authority, clinical commissioning group.
  • If you are displaying a point/postcode, you will need EITHER a column that contains a full postcode, OR two columns for latitude and longitude.

We'll now step through the upload and configuration process for your dataset, tab by tab.

Settings

File - upload your CSV file here.
You must do this first so that you can later select which columns represent which data points.

Format

- The format of your CSV file

Identifier

- A unique identifier to represent your dataset. This is used in the Geoinform URL to get directly to your dataset. For example, if you were to use care_homes in here, then going to https://geoinform.esd.org.uk/?group=care_homes will load your data set onto the map. The identifier is limited to 9 characters.

Label

This is a human-readable label that is just displayed on the screen, at the top of the filters, to tell the user what they are looking at. In our example, this would say "Care homes".

Markers known as

This ensures that when we talk about the markers, we are describing them in a way that is meaningful to the user. If you don't enter anything in here, we will use the default 'markers'. In our example, we will use 'care homes', because each marker refers to a care home.

Area type

Here you will select whether your file includes point/postcode locations (e.g. an address) or areas such as local authorities. If the latter, you can pick the type of area from our pre-defined list.

Default colour (only if the area type is NOT a point/postcode location)

The colour that your areas will be shaded in - it defaults to LGA purple.

Time period type and date

Geoinform can represent data that changes over time, for example data which is updated annually. If your dataset is a one-off you can select 'None' in here, but if later on you will go and add further data for other dates, you will need to set the time period to which your data is relevant. 

Let's say in our example, we will be adding different batches of care home data for 2018, 2019 and 2020, so it will be possible to see how care home provision changes across those three years. To achieve this, I will select 'calendar year' in the time period type dropdown. In the 'date' field I will enter a date which falls within my selected time period. So in my example, I will just enter '01/01/2018' and this will ensure that all the data I upload in this particular batch will be assigned to 2018. In my next data batch, I will enter '01/01/2019' and this will assign the next batch to 2019.

Core data

On this tab we will map the column in your uploaded CSV file to the essential information about your marker.

Marker label

This is the column that denotes what each marker is called - for example, the name of the care home. The label doesn't have to be unique - i.e., two care homes could have the same label.

Unique identifier

This is an optional field that becomes important if you upload multiple batches of data for different time periods. It is a unique identifier for each individual marker that must be unique. If you want to upload more than one batch of data, the identifier will be used to assign the data to the correct marker.

Location data

What you are asked for here depends on whether you're uploading areas, or point/postcodes.

If you are uploading areas then you need a column which includes the unique identifier for each area - e.g. E08000016. If you don't know the identifiers for your areas, you can normally get this information from LG Inform Plus, using our Data Tool.
If you are uploading point/postcodes, then you will need to supply one of the following:

  • A column containing the postcode

OR 

  • A column containing the latitude and a column containing the longitude

Lat and long columns should use the decimal format.

Area colour

If you're uploading areas (rather than point/postcodes) and want the areas shading in different colours, you can include a colour in a hex format (e.g. 'cdcdcd' is grey).


Configuration tab

This tab allows you to set some options around the GeoInform search and filter interface.

Hide the filters

Hides all filters from the left-hand side filter panel.

Hide filters on load

By default, the filter panel expands when the map is first loaded. If you'd prefer it not to, check this.

Hide map breakdown filter

Hides the default map breakdown filter.

Hide CSV download

By default, on the 'table' tab within Geoinform, the data shown in that table can be downloaded in a CSV format. If you'd prefer to not allow this, check this box.


Fields tab

In this tab we will configure exactly what is shown on your marker pop-up.

When you first enter this tab, it will automatically show the fields for unique identifier, location and so on, that you configured in the 'core data' tab. Now, you can also add further columns to provide additional information on your marker pop-up. In our example we are going to add two further fields: number of beds, and rating.

In the 'select fields' dropdown you will see a list of all the columns in your CSV which are not already set to be imported. We'll select 'number of beds' and then click 'add'. This adds the 'number of beds' column to the list of fields. We'll then do the same for 'rating'.

For each field, including the ones for location, marker label, etc - you can set different options depending on how you want to display or use that data:
Text/CURIE/Numeric/Date.

In my example, all of the fields have the type 'text'.

To further configure each field, use the 'settings' dropdown next to the relevant field. Here you have the options:

  • Label
  • Display in marker - if unchecked, the data will still be imported for use either as a setting or a filter, but won't be shown in the marker pop-up.
  • CURIE stub - if using the field as part of a URL, enter the stub of the URL here.
  • Is filterable (not available for unique identifier fields) - this will show the field as an option within the filters panel

You can also reorder your fields which will dictate the order in which they appear in the marker or filters. Drag and drop the fields to re-order.

In the right hand side of this page you are shown a dynamic preview of the content of the marker pop-up. By default it shows you the first row of data in your upload, but clicking 'see another' allows you to view other records.

Please note - once you have created your data set by clicking 'upload', you will not be able to add or remove fields from the dataset if you edit it. You will be able to change the settings under the 'settings' dropdown however, including hiding/showing the fields in the marker pop-up or filters.

Once you are happy with your configuration, click 'upload' to finalise your dataset. You'll receive an email notification when your upload is complete - if the dataset is large then this might take some time.

Once uploaded you can view your dataset through one of two methods:

  • Navigate to 'my datasets' and clicking 'view' next to the relevant one
  • Navigate to geoinform.esd.org.uk?group=YOUR_DATASET_IDENTIFIER