Content Overview
Visualizing Your Data
I recently had the opportunity to spend time exploring the capabilities of Esri’s new Insights tool. Insights is a data visualization and exploration tool that is simple to use and can create some striking views of your data. In this post, I’d like to share how Insights can be used in conjunction with asset data from your GIS and inspection data derived from UDC’s Digital Utility® – Gas Compliance Manager® to create a dashboard like view of upcoming CP Test Point inspections.
Getting Started
We begin by creating a new Insights workbook, equivalent to a .doc file in Microsoft Word, and bringing in three sources of data I’d previously published to my on-premise Portal. The first two from the GIS are 1) the CP Test Point features I want to track, and 2) my Utility’s District boundaries that I can aggregate by. The third source is a list of incomplete CP Test Point inspection work events from Compliance Manager. Once brought in, I’ll name the workbook, and we’re ready to start creating some views.
CP Inspection Status
The first view I’m interested in is one that allows us to check the current status. Am I behind? How much is coming due in the next few weeks? I’d like to do this visually on the map. To do this, I mash my spatial test point data with my non-spatial inspection event data using Insights’ Relationship View tool to join the features by object ID.
The result is a derived data source that I can then drag to create a new Map card. In Insights, Cards is the name given to a display element such as chart or map. Once placed, I style the map based on the inspection status field to get a good visual cue of my current state.
Delving Deeper
This map is a good start, but I’d like to see this data broken out by District so I can see which districts are underperforming and which districts have a lot of work coming due soon.
To check on upcoming work, I drag my Districts data source to a new Map card followed by the derived CP Test Points Inspections data source specifying that I want to aggregate by district.
I then modify the symbology to symbolize the counts by color rather than the default size option. Finally, I provide a card filter on the status field to exclude those not due anytime soon. The result is a color coded map showing relative density of events coming due or past due.
For underperformance, I chose a heat map to indicate hot spots overlaid on the district map. To do this, I drag the District data source again to another new Map card and then drag the derived Test Point inspections to the new card, this time adding them as a second layer.
I then apply a filter to the card to show just past due inspections and switch the symbology to Heat Map. The result provides the supporting evidence I’m looking for to identify my underperformers.
Creating Charts and Graphs
Finally, it doesn’t have to be just about maps; Insights is a great tool for creating and displaying charts and graphs too. To demonstrate this, I recreate the view showing Test Point inspections coming due by district by expanding the Test Points Due data source and dragging the district name field as a new Chart card. Voila, Insights counts the rows by the selected field and builds a chart from the result. From here, I can modify the chart type to show a number of different views.
The Visual Dashboard
The final result? In just a few clicks, I’ve created a mini-dashboard giving me a snapshot in time view of my CP inspections!
More Information on Insights
There are many more features in Insights not discussed here. A few examples include:
- Synchronized panning
- Selection highlighting across multiple cards
- Analysis view that records how cards were created
We’re excited to see what additions Esri has for this technology in the coming months and also to see what visualizations folks within the Utility industry will create with it.
For additional information on Insights, here are some useful links:
Insights Product Page:
https://www.esri.com/en-us/arcgis/products/arcgis-insights/overview
Free Online Tutorial:
https://doc.arcgis.com/en/insights/latest/get-started/get-started-with-analysis.htm
Insights Blog:
https://blogs.esri.com/esri/arcgis/tag/insights-for-arcgis/
To learn how to enrich your gas utility DIMP (Distribution Integrity Management Program) and support your yearly gas maintenance planning activities with ArcGIS Insights data exploration tools, see Supporting DIMP with ArcGIS: Part Two of Two or contact us.