How do I create nationwide rings that contain 80% of my target value?

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If you would like to see the geographic area that services 80 percent of your target demographic then you can visualize this information in Maptitude. By building rings to your target value, you can see if your competitors serve the same population with a smaller geographic footprint, and you can explore those locations without coverage.

The following steps outline how to build nationwide buffers to a particular value:

 

  1. Open or create a map that contains a layer of your point locations.
  2. Choose either method “A” or method “B”:
    1. Either:
      • Choose Tools>GISDK Developer’s Kit>GISDK Toolbar.
      • Click the Immediate Execution button and check Trace.
      • Type the following, where Population can be any chosen field (e.g., Population, Households, etc.) 
        • x = VectorStatistic(GetDataVector(“Census Tract|”, “Population”, ), “Sum”, )
          y = x *0.80
      • Click Run and copy the value shown for y, which is 80% of the nationwide total for your chosen field.
    2. Or:
      • Right-click on the Census Tract layer in the Display Manager and choose New Dataview.
      • Choose Dataview-Summary Statistics. The Sum value for your chosen field (e.g., Population, Households, etc.) will tell you the nationwide total for that field.
      • Use Excel or the Windows Calculator and multiply the value you copied by 0.80. Copy this value, which is 80% of the nationwide total for your chosen field.
      • In Maptitude, close the statistics Dataview.
  3. Make your point layer of locations the working layer.
  4. Choose Tools>Analysis>Buffers.
  5. From the Buffers Around drop-down menu, choose:
    1. All Features to use all points in this layer as the centers of the rings
    2. Visible Features to use just the points in the current map
    3. The name of a selection set to use just the points in that set.
  6. Choose Build to Value from the Method radio list.
  7. Paste the value you calculated in step 2 into the Values edit box.
  8. Choose US Census Overlay from the Layer drop-down list.
  9. Choose the field you used in step 3 from the Field drop-down list.
  10. Make sure the Separate Buffers box is NOT checked.
  11. Click OK. Maptitude creates a buffer around your locations that contains the target value that you chose.
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