Geographical visualizations in SAS Visual Analytics
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I always get a lot of questions about the possibilities of geographic maps in SAS. Especially a lot from municipalities, water boards and other government agencies.
In this blog I want to describe some of the possibilities through a number of use examples.
-Map background
-Data
-Creating a Geography data item
-Shape files
-Geo objects
-Properties
-Using icons instead of dots
-Routing, drivetime and geographic area
-Geocode with ESRI
-Geoenrichment with ESRI
-SAS ArcGISWebMapProvider
First, I want to distinguish between data and background maps. Data projected on a map can be in the form of points, polyline and polygon.
Map background
What options do you have regarding map backgrounds? SAS supports Openstreetmap and ESRI by default. The report/dashboard author can choose which map background to use. Sometimes it might be even better not to use a map background because the shapes are already clear enough and the map background just creates unnecessary noise.
After dragging one of the GEO objects available in Visual Analytics onto the canvas, you can scroll down to the map servers in the properties pane on the right. By clicking on the icon next to it you can see what options are available for your environment. Openstreetmap and ESRI map backgrounds have multiple background maps options to choose from. Openstreetmap map services are received from “http://opnsta.sas.com/” or “ http://opnstb.sas.com/ ‘ and ’http://opnstc.sas.com/” and ESRI map services are received from “https://services.arcgisonline.com/ArcGIS/rest/services ” . It is also possible to add your own ESRI environment for alternative background maps.
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The default background map can be set at your SAS profile, top right. Settings -> Geographic mapping.
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Data
There are several ways to project data onto a geographic map. This can be done by Geographic Name or Code lookup, by creating a geographic data provider or by using the Latitude and longitude in data.
Geographic Name or Code lookup
Geographic Name or Code lookup uses standards like ISO codes of countries, names of countries and for America there are additional options like State name or abbreviations and ZIP codes.
Geographic data providers
Geographic data providers use shape file data stored in a data source or from an ESRI feature service. In the provider you specify where the data can be retrieved, what kind of Geometry type it is and optionally you can change the standard Coordinate space (Word Geodetic System (WGS84)).
The big advantage of Geographic data providers is that you only have to use them once and can use them in many reports and dashboards. To be allowed to create or modify a Geographic data provider, you must belong to the 'Esri users' group.
Latitude and longitude in data
If the data source contains Latitude and Longitude in its columns, you can use it for one of the other data items by changing classification to Geography and selecting these columns. For example, to show an address onto a map for those coordinates.
Creating a Geography data item
In the data pane on the left side, a category or measure can be converted to a Geography data item. The report creator can then choose from the choices described above. The middle choice, Geo data provider, uses either shape data in a SAS data source loaded into memory (CAS) or by using an ESRI feature service. In the latter case, the shape data is fetched to SAS from, for example, a public service or ESRI's own internal environment while opening the report.
Creating a GEO Data Provider on a CAS Table:
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Editing a GEO Data Provider to an ESRI Feature Service:
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Shape files
There are all kinds of providers of Shape files. These are a series of files that make up the Polygons or Polylines. For example at https://www.pdok.nl/ or on Arcgis online. Many companies also create their own shape files of their own areas or objects.
There are several ways to read these into SAS. It can be done through the CLI (command line interface), through a piece of script with proc mapimport or in SAS Studio with one of the custom steps available on our Github page. You can also directly create a GEO Data Provider through this step.
https://github.com/sassoftware/sas-studio-custom-steps
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Geo objects
In Visual Analytics there are a series of standard objects to create GEO visualizations. For coordinates, polygons, polylines or combinations of polygons/polylines with coordinates. These combined objects consist of 2 layers that you can make visible and not visible at the top right of the object. And to abundance itself a GEO PIE object.
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Geo visualizations with more than 2 layers are of course also possible. All data comes from SAS via codes, Geo data providers or longitude & latitude.
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Geo objects with more than 2 layers can be created with a custom graph. A new template of a GEO object can be created here.
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Other examples, also including animation
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Properties
In the properties pane on the right. Many properties can be adjusted. For example, title, background color, color gradient, disable zoom & pan, labels, map background and the legend.
By default, GEO objects zoom in according to the data being displayed. For example if we have the map of the Netherlands and I select a municipality via a filter the map will zoom in from all of the Netherlands to that municipality. There is an option to make sure that all polygons in the data remain visible and only the selected municipality gets a color. This is done with the 'Placeholder regions' option.
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Using icons instead of dots
Of course, you can distinguish between the different points with colors and sizes. It is also possible to change these points into icons. This is done with display rules. Icons from the standard library can be used, also it is possible to use your own image.
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Routing, drivetime and geographic area
In the user's settings, the Arcgis online account can also be linked to SAS. This makes additional functionality available such as asftand / driving time analyses.
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Geocode with ESRI
If you want to project data onto a map and you have no coordinates in the data, geocoding with ESRI is a convenient and fast way. For this the user account must be linked to an Arcgis online account. This feature will cost ESRI credits depending on the amount of lines to get latitude and longitude.
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Geoenrichment with ESRI
In addition to geocoding, ESRI also lets you enrich the data from their data library. This works in a similar way to Geocode. This feature also costs ESRI credits.
SAS ArcGISWebMapProvider
The SAS ArcGISWebMapProvider uses an ESRI Webmap. The webmap is created in Arcgis desktop, for example, and can consist of multiple layers with data about, for example, parks and train tracks. On top of those layers, 1 layer can be projected from SAS. This allows you to combine data from SAS and ESRI in 1 visualization in SAS Visual Analytics. A detailed description and manual can be found at https://github.com/sassoftware/sas-visualanalytics-geowebmap.
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SAS ArcGISWebMapProvider - 3D
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Ik hoop dat dit een goed beeld geeft van de mogelijkheden van geographical visualisaties in SAS met OpenstraatMap en de nog uitgebreidere mogelijkheden
met ESRI.
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Impressive.
I also like the touch of Dutch (last sentence). 😉
Koen
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And the "layout of the circuit" - thing ... That is "Circuit Zandvoort" in the Netherlands for those wondering.
Koen
