SparkMap uses location-specific data to create maps, assessments, and reports that are used by businesses, nonprofits, governments, health, researchers, and communities to inform and transform their work.

Access 80 core indicators exploring topics in health, economics, environment, education, and demographics.

★ Useful for Intro, Pro, and Premium Subscriptions

This tutorial is for you to master how to create an interactive report for your community. You will find help with 

• Select Custom Area – by State and by County
• Determine Indicators
• Indicators Information (e.g. Data Attributes, Map, Data Source, etc.)
• Access to the Assessment
• Indicators’ Additional Details (Background and Methodology)
• Explore Report
• Download Report(s) 
• Additional Features

Select Custom Area

Under Location, you can choose the desired area either at the County (Figure 1) or State level (Figure 2) and select it from the list below. If you are interested in a particular County (Figure 1), you need to select the State and the list of counties will populate. Then, click on the bottom right to proceed. 

Note: The demonstration is for one County, but you can select more than one with a subscription.

Determine Indicators

Here you can see all available indicators that have been curated by topic areas. For example, under Demographics (Figure 3) we have “Change in Total Population”, “Population Age 65+”, etc. You can select all Indicators at the top, select an entire category by clicking the check, or select Indicators you are most interested in (Figure 4).

Indicators Information

You can learn more about an indicator data source by clicking on the “i” icon next to the indicator (Figure 5). For example, Data Attributes, Quick View of the Map, Link to Original Data Source, etc.

Access to Report

Click at the bottom to generate the Standard Report. Here you can explore the indicators you have selected in context of the location you have selected. Figure 6 shows the first selected indicator “Total Population” and a short paragraph within the context of the selected geography. The same information is reported in a data table. For example, the report location is York County Maine which is compared to the State of Maine and the rest of the United States (Figure 7).

Indicator Additional Details

To access the indicator’s background information and methodology click “Show more details” under the data table. Additionally, to explore the indicator within the Map room, you can click “View larger map” (Figure 8).

Explore the Assessment

Scroll down to see the rest of indicators within the assessment. If you want to jump through the indicators easily, click the hamburger menu at the bottom of the page to direct you to a chosen topic or indicator. For example, Figure 9 shows “Children Eligible for Free/Reduced Price Lunch,” – when data is available indicators will include visualizations such as dials, bar graphs or trends over time. 

Download Assessment(s)

You can download the assessment as a PDF and will look similar to the assessment page (Figure 10). You can also download multiple assessment options available under the “Report Options” dropdown menu. For example, on Figure 11, you can uncheck “Show state data” and in the indicator data table, the state of Maine will no longer display. You can also uncheck population groups and/or map visibility. Finally, you can download “Quick facts” for a one- to two-pager containing a series of data tables for the indicators and “Source and Methodology” to cite the indicator sources. 

Additional Features

Finally, you can share the report on social media or email and you can print it by clicking the bottom as shown on Figure 12.

If you need any additional assistance feel free to email us at sparkmap@missouri.edu