CLUSTERING Add-In (beta)

The Clustering Wizard provides you with an automated method of grouping a set of points or areas into compact clusters, while placing optional constraints on the clusters such as maximum size or a balanced total field, such as Sales or Population. To use the tool, you will need a map containing a point or area layer that you would like to group into clusters.

 

To install:*

1. Download the file clustering-addin.exe.
2. Double-click the executable to launch the installation.
3. Confirm that you’d like to allow the installer to make changes to your PC and follow the instructions in the installation wizard.
4. Once installed, the add-in can be launched by opening a Maptitude map and choosing Tools>GIS Developers Kit>Add-ins>Clustering Wizard.

*NOTE: The Clustering add-in works only with Maptitude 2020 or later.

To Create Clusters

1. Open or create a map containing the point/area layer which you would like to group into clusters. If necessary, create a selection set on this layer if you only wish to make clusters out of part of the layer.
2. Choose Tools>GIS Developers Kit>Add-ins>Clustering Wizard to open the Clustering Wizard .
3. Make changes to the map settings as follows:

   To do this...	Do this...
   Choose the layer to split into clusters	Choose a layer from the Layer drop-down list
   Choose the records to include in the clusters	Choose All Features or a selection set from the Selection Set drop-down list

4. Click Next>. When making clusters, the Clustering Wizard will try to group points that are close together. Choose how this distance between points is calculated:

   To do this...	Do this...
   Use the Drive Time between points	Check Route and choose Fastest from the Route Type drop-down menu
   Use the Driving Distance between points	Check Route and choose Shortest from the Route Type drop-down menu
   Use the Straight Line Distance between points	Check Straight Lines
   Skip routes longer than a certain Drive Time or Driving Distance	Check Skip routes longer than and enter a value

5. Click Next> and make changes as follows:

   To do this...	Do this...
   Set the number of Clusters to make	Enter a value for Number of Clusters
   Restrict the clusters to be under a given value for a total field	Check Restrict, pick a field from the drop-down list and enter a value to restrict the clusters to
   Compute statistics for the resulting clusters	Check Compute Statistics
   Make the clusters as compact as possible	Choose None under Cluster Balancing
   Balance the clusters to have similar number of points	Choose Number of Points under Cluster Balancing
   Balance the clusters to have similar totals for a given field	Choose Total of under Cluster Balancing and pick a field from the drop-down list
   Balance the clusters to have similar average time/distance to the center of the cluster	Choose Average Cost under Cluster Balancing
   Set an acceptable tolerance for the balancing of the clusters	Enter a value or use the spinners to set the acceptable percent tolerance

6. Click Finish.

Maptitude groups the target layer into clusters based on the chosen settings, with the following outputs:

• Maptitude creates a table called Assignment Table with the IDs of the target layer and the IDs of the “seeds” of each cluster, as well as showing the distance/time to the seed of the cluster
• If Compute Statistics was checked, Maptitude opens the Cluster Aggregation table which contains information on the clusters, including the number of records in each cluster, as well as High, Low and Total values for each numeric field in the target layer
• Maptitude joins the Assignment Table to the target layer and puts a color theme on the Seed ID, color coding the target layer into each assigned cluster
• Maptitude creates a new layer called Cluster Centroids which is a point layer with a point at the center of each cluster, with some general information about the clusters

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