Add your data

Note:

ArcGIS Community Analyst is being retired. See Deprecation notice for ArcGIS Community Analyst: Transition to ArcGIS Business Analyst Web App for more information.

In ArcGIS Community Analyst, you can import Excel and .csv files containing addresses, coordinates, or standard geographic boundaries, as well as polygon and point shapefiles.

Import an Excel or .csv point file

You can add points to the map by importing Excel and .csv files up to 5 MB in size. Perform the following steps to import an Excel or .csv file into ArcGIS Community Analyst:

1. OIn the Maps tab, click Add data and select Import file.
   The Import file pane appears.
2. Click Browse and select the point file that you want to import.

   Once selected, the file name appears in the Select a file to import text box.

3. Click Import.
4. Select Point locations and click Next.
5. Confirm the imported file's columns match the fields. Click View data table to ensure the Column | Field association. Use the column drop-down menus to make adjustments. Optionally, if the file contains coordinates, click Reverse-geocode the coordinates. Click Next.

   Your points are geocoded and added to the map. If the file contains invalid address points, you can correct them or continue without making any corrections. Click Fix one at a time to go through each of the invalid addresses or click Fix all to view the entire list in a table view with the invalid records on top.

6. When you are finished, click Add matches.

   The locations appear on the map.

7. Style the points. When you are finished, click Next.
8. Set the following options to name and save the layer:
   • Select Save only points or Create and save sites for all points. Saving as sites activates the travel time, radius, and distance type options.
   • Optionally, if you select Create and save sites for all points, click Edit selection to choose which points will be saved as sites.
   • Edit the layer name in the New layer name text box.
   • Optionally, use the Choose column for site name drop-down menu to confirm or select the column that will be used for the site name.
   • Check the Open all labels for imported data check box to label each of the sites.
9. Click Save to save the data to the current project.
10. Perform additional tasks or click I'm done to close the workflow pane.

Import an Excel or .csv file with geographic boundaries

You can add geographic boundaries to the map by importing Excel and .csv files up to 5 MB in size. Perform the following steps to import an Excel or a .csv file into ArcGIS Community Analyst:

1. On the Maps tab, click Add data and select Import file.
   The Import file pane appears.
2. Click Browse and select the boundary Excel or .csv file that you want to import.

   Once selected, the file name appears in the Select a file to import text box.

3. Click Import.
4. Select the Geographic boundaries option. Click Next.
5. Select the options in the Select the geography boundary level and Select the geography name or ID column drop-down lists. To see the data in the file, click View data table.

   For example, importing a file with two columns—Zip (containing the ZIP Code) and Area (containing a custom name for the ZIP Code)—creates a boundary layer mapping each ZIP Code record:

   Zip	Area
   92373	South Redlands
   92374	North Redlands
   92557	Moreno Valley
   90031	NE Los Angeles

   Your geographic boundaries are geocoded and added to the map. If the file contains invalid geographic boundaries, you can correct them or continue without making any corrections. Click Fix one at a time to go through each of the invalid boundaries or click Fix all to view the entire list in a table view with the invalid records on top.

6. When you are finished, click Add matches.

   The locations appear on the map.

7. Set the following options for the layer. When you are finished, click Next.
   • Choose whether to combine all imported geographies into a single site or to a create a separate site for each geography. To modify the selection of geographies, click Edit selection.

     Note:

     If your file contains more than 5,000 standard geography records, you must click Edit selection to select a maximum of 5,000.

   • In the New layer name text box, change the name assigned to the new layer from the default.
   • Select a column in the Choose column for site name drop-down list to use as the site name for the sites created.
   • Check the Open all labels for imported data check box to label each of the sites.
8. Optionally, change the layer's Border and Fill properties and click Save.

   Your sites are saved in the current project as a new layer under the section Geographies (sites).

9. Perform additional tasks or click I'm done to close the workflow pane.

Import a point shapefile

You can add points to the map by importing shapefiles up to 3 MB in size, and which contain 1,000 records or less. To import a point shapefile, complete the following steps:

1. On the Maps tab, click Add data and select Import file.
   The Import file pane appears.
2. Click Browse and select the zipped shapefile you want to import.

   Once selected, the file name appears in the Select a file to import text box.

3. Click Import.
4. Style the points. When you are finished, click Next.
5. Set the following options to name and save the layer:
   • Select Save only points or Create and save sites for all points. Saving as sites activates the travel time, radius, and distance type options.
   • Optionally, if you select Create and save sites for all points, click Edit selection to choose which points will be saved as sites.
   • Edit the layer name in the New layer name text box.
   • Optionally, use the Choose column for site name drop-down menu to confirm or select the column that will be used for the site name.
   • Check the Open all labels for imported data check box to label each of the sites.
6. Click Save to save the data to the current project.
7. Perform additional tasks or click I'm done to close the workflow pane.

Import a polygon shapefile

You can add polygons to the map by importing shapefiles up to 3 MB in size, and which contain 1,000 records or less. To import a shapefile into your project, complete the following steps:

1. On the Maps tab, click Add data and select Import file.
   The Import file pane appears.
2. Click Browse and select the zipped shapefile you want to import.

   Once selected, the file name appears in the Select a file to import text box.

3. Click Import.
4. Set the following options for the layer:
   • If the imported shapefile contains multiple polygons, choose whether to combine all imported polygons into a single site or to a create a separate site for each polygon. Select Yes to combine polygons into a single site or No to save each polygon as a separate site. To modify the selection of polygons, click Edit selection.

     Note:

     If your file contains more than 1,000 polygons, you must click Edit selection and select a maximum of 1,000.

   • Edit the layer name in the New layer name text box.
   • Optionally, use the Choose column for site name drop-down menu to confirm or select the column that will be used for the site name.
   • Check the Open all labels for imported data check box to label each of the sites.
5. When you are finished, click Next.
6. Change the Border and Fill properties for the layer. Click Save when you are finished.

   Your sites are saved as a new layer in the current project, under the Polygons (sites) section.

7. Perform additional tasks or click I'm done to close the workflow pane.

Style layers and points

Your data's attributes determine the styling options available. When editing a layer style, you can choose from the following options:

Location (single symbol)

Showing data on a map with a single symbol shows the distribution and may reveal patterns. For example, mapping of list of restaurant locations, you would likely see the restaurants together in a business district.

• To choose a symbol, click the Symbol drop-down menu. You can select a different symbol or upload your own.
• Change the symbol color by choosing a different one from the Color swatch. Modify the symbol size with the Size slider.
• Use the Cluster points check box to turn clustering on or off.

Note:

Symbols in GIF, PNG, and JPG file formats can be uploaded with a limit of 1 MB. The recommended size of the image is 120 x 120 pixels or less.

Types (unique symbols)

Use unique symbols to show different kinds of things rather than counts of numerical measurements. For example, you can use different colors to represent restaurant cuisine types. It is recommended that the layer show fewer than 10 categories; more categories than that become hard to distinguish. If the data has more than 10 categories, the 10 most common are shown and the remaining ones are grouped together into an Others category.

• Use the Cluster points check box to turn clustering on or off.
• Click More options to choose the style for the symbols and set the color ramp, change the attribute, or edit the symbols individually. Changes appear in the legend.

Counts and amounts (color)

If you have numeric data, you can distinguish features based on a color gradient. There is a variety of color gradients that you can use, for example, a simple light-to-dark color scheme can show low-to-high data values for age or income.

• Click More options to choose the style for the symbols, change the attribute, and adjust the graph.
• Click Classify data to adjust the method and breaks. Changes appear in the legend.

Counts and amounts (size)

This uses an orderable sequence of sizes to represent your numerical data or ranked categories. These proportional symbol maps use an intuitive logic that larger symbols equate to larger numbers. You can adjust the size of the symbols for clarification. For example, you can use graduated symbols to show sales or number of employees.

• Click More options to choose the style for the symbols, change the attribute, and adjust the graph and clusters.
• Click Classify data to adjust the method and breaks. Changes appear in the legend.

Heat map

Heat maps can be used when mapping the location of point features. These are useful when many of the points on the map are close together and aren't easily distinguished. Heat maps use the points in the layer to calculate and display the relative density of points on the map as smoothly varying sets of colors ranging from cool (low density of points) to hot (many points). It is best to avoid heat maps if you have only a few point features; instead, map the actual points.

• Click More options to change the color bar. You can also move the Area of Influence slider to adjust the clusters. Changes appear in the legend.
• Using the select tool, you can select heat map polygons or select underlying point data to create rings, drive times, or walk times.

Color & Size

With this style, you choose one or two numeric attributes in the data and specify both the color and the size of point symbols on the map. You can use this style to show count information (size) shaded by a rate (color)—for example, the number of people with no health insurance shaded by the percentage of the population that is uninsured. Click More options to style the color and size of symbology.

• In the Color tab, select an attribute to divide by, select a theme, and adjust the color ranges.
• In the Size tab, select an attribute to divide by, use the handles on the size value slider to adjust the values for symbol sizes, and use the Size slider to adjust the symbol size range.

Types & Size

This style allows you to represent the data using sizes and categories by color. Click More options to style the types and size of symbology.

• In the Types tab, modify the symbol, select an attribute, and adjust individual symbols.
• In the Size tab, select an attribute to divide by, use the handles on the size value slider to adjust the values for symbol sizes, and use the Size slider to adjust the symbol size range.

Usage notes

See the following notes:

• Select the Create and save sites for all points option to create rings, drive times, or walk times around the points on the map. For more information about working with sites, see Create sites.
• You can import standard compressed archive .zip files; other compression formats aren't supported.
• A .zip archive must contain the .shp, .shx, .dbf, and .prj files.
• The files must be stored directly in the root (the central directory) of the .zip archive, not in the directories within the archive. If the .zip file viewer shows path information, the path must be blank.
• The shapefile must contain valid geometries. Currently, self-intersections in polygon shapefiles aren't supported.
• The shapefile must have an accompanying .prj file in which the coordinate system of the data is defined.

Set preferences

You can set preferences for ArcGIS Community Analyst in the app preferences. When adding data, you can specify preferences for the colors and symbology of imported points and polygons. Administrators can set preferences for the entire organization.

To set the workflow preferences, do the following:

1. On the app header, click My preferences .

   The Preferences window appears.

2. Expand the Maps section, expand the Add data section, and click Import file.
3. Optionally, set the following preferences:

   • Use the check boxes to turn the fill and border off or on for imported polygons.

   • Click the Fill and Border color swatches to select colors for imported polygons. Use the sliders to adjust color transparency.

   • Use the Thickness drop-down menu to specify the weight of the border for imported polygons.

   • Use the Choose a symbol for imported points drop-down menu to select or upload a symbol for imported points.

4. To restore the default settings, click Restore defaults.
5. To save your changes, click Save or, optionally, click Save and close to close the Preferences window. To view your changes, refresh the app.

Workflow video

Learn more about Import File.

Note:

This video was created using Business Analyst Web App, where the user experience and workflows are identical to ArcGIS Community Analyst.