VA Geographic Regions - alignment between default view and published regions

[JimLittle]

I am trying to reconcile the VA geographic regions and subdivsions against the regions shown on the map for New Zealand.

According to the SAS documentation (Country and Region Subdivision Lookup Values for SAS Visual Analytics 6.3 and 6.4) there are 16 regions in NZ, not including the NZ-99 Map ID for (area outside region).

However, the map in VA only shows 14 regions. It would appear that the map is rendering the following three regions as one single area:

Country or Region Name	Subdivision Name	SAS Map ID Value
New Zealand	Marlborough Region	NZ-18
New Zealand	Nelson Region	NZ-17
New Zealand	Tasman Region	NZ-16

These regions are all next to each other and appear as one (see attached screenshot).

Any thoughts on how to resolve?

[FalkoSchulz]

Hi Jim

By default SAS Visual Analytics is configured to use OpenStreetMap geographical map service. This means map features such as streets, rivers or regional boundaries are rendered within OpenStreetMap. SAS is utilizing map data sets from GfK GeoMarketing to render the overlay regions. Based on the details you provided - it seems GfK is using a more detailed regional structure (16 regions) than what OpenStreetMap does (14 regions). OpenStreetMap is an open map provider and you could try asking for map updates if the current regional structure is not correct. You could also try alternative map providers within SAS VA such as ESRI which provide a bit more flexibility in regards to map types and details used.

Hope this helps.

Cheers, Falko

[JimLittle]

Hi Falko,

Thanks for your reply. The structure of the regions from OpenStreetMap looks to be correct, so can I request that GfK GeoMarketing update their definitions and that the data is refreshed.

It is not sensible for VA to render overlay regions using data from a provider that can't be downloaded and checked or simulated.

The issue here is that these three regions are ridiculously small (both in area and population) so it is not sensible for the area to be divided into three.

Thanks,

Jim.

[FalkoSchulz]

Hi Jim,

I'm not too sure whether GfK is wrong here to be honest. Obviously you have better local knowledge but references such as wikipedia or Statistics New Zealand all suggest you have 3 regions in this area so it appears OpenStreetMap may require updates. I agree with you that it may make sense from a visualization perspective to summarize these regions (as you said it is very low populated) but looking at the geographical regional boundaries these are separate entities. I would suggest opening a SAS Technical Support ticket and express your concerns. While SAS doesn't control either of these map resources we may be able to pass a change request on.

Hope this helps. Falko