Find similar locations

Note:

You need the following account and license types to use this workflow:

• Microsoft license—You need a Microsoft 365 license, role Contributor or higher, to add data values to the Find similar field well and share those values. Contributors and Viewers can use the Find similar values to add a Find similar layer to a map.
• ArcGIS account type—Standard users can perform all the functions of this workflow; you do not need to sign in.

Use the Find similar tool to quickly identify the top 10 locations with attributes comparable to locations currently selected on a map and create a nonpersistent layer in the map containing those locations. For example, if you create a map in ArcGIS for Power BI of your company's stores containing sales values, you may want to find the stores that are the top performers.

See Analysis options for information about other analysis options that can provide insight into map data.

Note:

The Find similar tool is only available for locations selected in data layers.

You can use the Find similar tool to perform analysis across multiple variables at once—such as traffic, sales volume, and inventory—and view the analysis results on the map and in other visuals in the report. You can also use the Find similar tool with other analysis options such as Buffer/drive time analysis or infographics cards to get more information about these locations.

To find similar locations, complete the following steps:

1. Open a map-enabled report or create a map.
2. Drag up to five numeric data fields into the Find similar field well.

   Note:

   If you use nonnumeric fields, the data is converted to count amounts, which may not accurately represent the data.

3. From the map tools, click Analysis and click the Find similar button .

   Tip:

   If the Find similar button does not appear in the Analysis tools, ensure that the Find similar field well contains a numeric value.

   The Find similar pane appears, listing the attributes to use to locate similar locations.

   Note:

   These can be saved and shared with Viewers of the report.

4. Use the selection tools in the Find similar pane to select the locations on the map to use as reference points.

   You can select up to 250 locations. When you select more than 1 location, the Find similar tool calculates the average value of each variable for the selected locations and uses that value for comparison.

   

   Note:

   While you are selecting locations, interaction between the map and other visualizations is paused.

5. In the Find similar pane, click Run.

   The top 10 similar locations appear on the map as numbered pins, ranked from the most similar to the least similar. The initially selected reference locations appear as blue pins.

6. Click Filter report to update other visualizations in the report based on the analysis results.
7. To clear the current results and start a new analysis, click Remove .
8. To close the Find similar pane without clearing the results on the map, click Close .

   The Find Similar Result layer appears in the Layers list.

9. To delete the Find Similar Result layer from the Layers list, click Layer options and click Remove .