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PCensus Features
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Easy-to-Use |
 Study
Area Wizard
The Study Area Wizard guides the user through all of the steps
required to define Profile reports, Lifestyle Target reports, Thematic
Maps or Pointfiles.
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 On-line Help
Context sensitive help is available for
all screens and dialog boxes via Help buttons or F1 key. The Help system
also provides background information program operation and on the Census
geography of the United States and Canada.
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Data |
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Demographic Databases
Choose from a number of databases including
demographics, consumer spending, workplace population, market segments,
etc. Variables from these databases can be combined together in reports;
e.g. household demographics with consumer spending.
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United States 2000 Census
U.S. Census Bureau |
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Canada 2001
Census
Statistics Canada |
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The
leader in census updates, consumer, business, and
PRIZM
lifestyle
data. |
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Canadian
consumer, business, and PSYTE lifestyle data.
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A complete
range of updates,
consumer, and business data. |
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Identify the risk of personal
& property
crimes in Canada. |
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Refresh Projects with New Data
You can open a saved project that was created with an obsolete
database, and regenerate its predefined or mapped study areas using
up-to-date data.
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Customizing Data
Database variables can be combined to create new data variables;
e.g. children per family, population age 10 to 24 years, etc.
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 Fast
Data Retrieval
PCensus QUICKLY retrieves demographics
for a study area profile or target areas.
The map display shows the location of the records as they are
found. This visual check confirms that data has been
retrieved in the study area you defined.
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| Use
Your Own Data
User's data records (e.g. client data with their address
or zip code) can be
imported and linked to PCensus databases. This
allows comparison of your data with demographics for further
analysis; e.g. market penetration studies.
Example case history of importing Public Domain data (Federal Benefit
Check Volumes by ZIP code) and using it with demographics to analyze the
benefits per capita.
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Census Block Precision
PCensus can retrieve demographics with census block precision. Using a block retrieval process substantially enhances the resolution of data retrieval for circles, polygons and drive time areas. A method of data prorating census blocks “on-the-fly” keeps database sizes to a reasonable level.
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Country
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Basic Geographic Unit |
Number of Blocks |
Improvement in Precision |
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Number |
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United States
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Block Group |
208,648 |
8,262,363 |
40 times |
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Canada
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Dissemination Area (DA) |
52,993 |
478,707 |
10 times |
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Block Groups or DAs
Blocks in the same area
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Median Data Calculations
Medians are calculated
dynamically on the basis of distributions (for example households by
income), allowing display of accurate median values even in study areas
that aggregate data from multiple database records.Top of Page |
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Defining Study Areas
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Geographically on a Map
Retrieve Demographic Profiles or find Target
Areas in User-defined study areas described with:
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The location of circular or drive-time areas can be defined by:
entering long-lat coordinates, street address/intersection, pointing and
clicking on a displayed map or selecting a place name.
The location of a polygon area can be defined by: entering long-lat
coordinates of vertices, tracing on a displayed map or loading a
previously saved file of coordinates (e.g. broadcast contours)
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Standard Study Areas
Retrieve Demographic profiles or find Target Areas in Standard
Census and Postal Areas:
| United
States / Puerto Rico |
Canada |
| State |
Province |
| County/Municipio |
Census Division (CD) |
| Place |
Census Subdivision (CSD) |
| CBSA |
Census Metropolitan Area
(CMA) |
| Census Tract |
Census Tract (CT) |
| Block Group |
Dissemination Area
(DA) |
| Postal 5-Digit Zip Code |
Postal Forward Sortation
Area (FSA) |
Standard census areas or postal areas are
easily
selected from a list to retrieve their demographics. Standard
areas can be combined to crate a new area; e.g. several counties or
Zip codes can be added together to make a new territory.
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| Complex
Study Areas
Study areas can be complex with multiple and
overlapping circles and polygons; e.g.
the area could be that part of a circle that is also within a
polygon. Profiles can be for areas that are either
within (the usual situation) or outside of the defined study area.
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 "Data-Fit" Circles and Drive-times
The Data-fit feature allows you to define a circle or polygon study
area based on a demographic characteristic. For example, we can fit
a circular area with a population of 10,000, or a drive time area
containing 1000 homes built before 1970.
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Batch Site Processing
PCensus lets you analyze many locations
at once. Create a set of profile reports based on circles or
drive time areas around a set of your locations (e.g. retail
outlets, restaurants, hospitals, etc).
With batch site processing, you can
also display individual site results row-by-row in a PCensus Target
List report, to allow quick comparison of their demographic
characteristics.
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Profile
Reports |
Profiling tells all
about the population in the study area you define.
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PCensus profile reports include categories
of demographic variables grouped together on single pages; e.g.
income data. You can customize reports and their layout to include
specific demographic variables, calculate percentages, display a dominant
variable in a group (e.g. the dominant "income category"), add
comments, format columns and line spacing.
Profiles for different locations are
displayed side-by-side for easy comparison. This lets you answer
questions such as "Which area has the most potential
consumers?" There is no limit to the number of study areas
(e.g. franchise locations) you can compare in a project.
In addition, the profile report browser has
unprecedented flexibility:
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 Columns can be reordered and sized by dragging.
- Text can be highlighted using color, bolding or italics.
- True indentation allows better organization of complex reports,
including indentation of long, wrapping lines.
- “Find” control is useful for finding a specific data item in a
large database, for example to locate lines containing the words
“Average Income”.
- Dominant Group now lists the Top “n” in a group, instead of
listing only the dominant entry.
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 Benchmarking
and Indexing
Designate a study area column as a Benchmark (for example All of
U.S.) and compute indexes for variables in another column (study
area; for example California)
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Multi-column Reports
 PCensus profiles can now contain multiple data columns,
allowing side-by-side display of data components; for example data for
different years can be compared directly in a spread-sheet format.
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Executive Summary
Reports The Executive
Summary feature displays an attractive narrative report summarizing
selected aspects of a study area.
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Graphing
Study Area Profiles
Demographics of study
area profiles can
be displayed as 3D charts and graphs.
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Customized Report
Contents
Customize reports to include the
categories and variables that you require; for example,
Household Income and Marital Status on the same page.
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"On-the-Fly"
Report Editor
Report template editing is
integrated with the PCensus browser so that reports can be modified “on the
fly”. Some of the features of the template editor include:
- Cut, copy and paste a report line or group of report lines from one category to another.
- Edit Line Properties: Change indentation, bolding etc.
- Modify report line formulae.
- Support for multiple selection to set indentation etc. for a group
of lines.
- Use drag and drop to reorder lines.
- Undo changes.
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Targeting
Market Areas |
Targeting finds all the areas that
contain people or households that match a Lifestyle you define.
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Defining Lifestyles
The user-defined Lifestyle lets you specify
the variables that define target areas to be found. The
Lifestyle is composed of Dimensions which are based on demographic
variables; e.g. "average age" of the population. A
Lifestyle can have any number of dimensions. These
dimensions can be based on variables from several databases;
e.g. demographics and consumer spending. There is no limit
to the number of dimensions of a lifestyle.
Use Filters to place limits on the value of
a dimension; e.g. the average age in an area must be "> 30 years" or
it is rejected as a target area.
For example, the
Lifestyle "Friends
of Elvis" describes households where the head-of-household is:
- Age 45 to 55
- Blue collar occupation
- Completed high school
- Purchases large amounts of peanut
butter & bananas (his favorite food).
PCensus finds and ranks all the target
areas (e.g. places, counties, census tracts, etc) that have
households matching this Lifestyle - sorry Memphis but you did
not make the list!
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Target Reports
PCensus target reports list the target areas (those that
match the Lifestyle definition; e.g.
well-off pet owners) ranked in descending/ascending order
based on values of one of the Lifestyle dimensions; e.g. sort target areas
in descending order of "average household income."
 Non-target areas (those that did not match
the Lifestyle definition) can also be displayed.
The
complete demographic profile for any individual target area can also
be displayed.
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Target Properties
You can see the properties of a
particular area in the target list with the Target Information
dialog.
The Contained Geographies tab shows the component target geographies
into which the selected target can be divided. For example,
Whatcom County contains County, Place, ZIP code, blockgroup and block
targets. The Create ... Target List button creates a target list at the selected level, using Whatcom County as the study area. This
operation is called "drilling down".
The Containing Geographies tab lists the larger geographies of which the
selected target is part; for example Whatcom County is located in
the Bellingham MSA and in the State of Washington. The Profile ...
button creates a profile column for the selected geography. This
operation is called "drilling up".
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Graphing
Target Areas
Demographics of
target areas can
be displayed as 3D charts and graphs.
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Integrated Mapping |
Whether you're new to mapping and market analysis or already have GIS
mapping technology, the industry's leading mapping software is
integrated with PCensus.
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MapPoint Functionality
with MapInfo
 PCensus
for MapInfo users who also have Microsoft MapPoint installed on their
computers can
access a number of useful MapPoint features, including:
An
important benefit of this combination is that MapInfo-generated
thematic maps can be displayed in the context of the MapPoint street
layer.
Click here for more information.
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Thematic Mapping
Demographics can be used to create thematic
maps that depict ranges of values (e.g. household incomes) using colored
boundary areas (e.g. census tracts, Zip codes), the size and/or color of
symbols, pie charts, and dot density maps.
Key
Features:
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Multiple
thematic maps can be created in a project; for example one study
area with a boundary thematic can be overlain by a second point
thematic.
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Color schemes
are defined by “ramps”, with preferred selections
remembered from session to session.
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Assignment of data to map boundaries
are intuitive; for example ZIP
code level data will be automatically assigned to an open ZIP
code map layer.
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“Dominant” variables as
automatically mapped as unique values.
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On-the-fly
Geocoding
 PCensus
provides the option to geocode imported data in the Batch
Site Processing and Create PCensus Database features.
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Map Imported Data
The Data Import feature contains a new Wizard to import
geographically referenced data to create a point map from
your own database table. The imported data will be
included as a MapInfo "tab" layer, or as a MapPoint pushpin
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Site
Location Analysis |
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SiteScan
 The
SiteScan
feature allows you to
search for potentially favorable sites (for retail outlets or other
businesses or public services that require a local user base). SiteScan quickly analyses a large number of sites to find the
locations that best meet specific criteria (e.g. a minimum
population or sufficient households with a specified income level,
education, children or dwelling types) within a specified distance
or drive time.
To see an example of SiteScan, click
here.
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elements of a project, including Profiles, Target lists, Graphs and
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