Cognos Analytics

 View Only
  • 1.  UK Postcode maps

    Posted Sat October 31, 2020 07:40 PM

    Hi,

     

    This will probably seem very obvious to some of you, but I just don't seem to be able to get my head round it. I've got some sales data at UK Postcode level. I want to display that information on a map at a region level. So, for example, I want to collate all the Manchester postcodes into a region on the map and sum up the sales values accordingly.

     

    I've tried to make sense of some of the posts that I've found on the web that talk about MapBox, but I can't find a simple, step-by-step guide that tells me how to go about what I'm trying to achieve. Has anyone done this sort of thing for UK postcodes? If they have, and they've got any sort of instructions, that would be amazing. I've managed to get as far as creating an account on MapBox, but I have no idea what I should be doing next.

     

    Any help that you can give me would be marvellous.

     

    TIA, Chris


    #CognosAnalyticswithWatson


  • 2.  RE: UK Postcode maps

    Posted Wed November 04, 2020 07:51 AM
    A lot depends on what you are trying to do. The supplied Mapbox links have built in hierarchies. For example post codes in the UK are supported down to 5 digits. So a post codes of say OX11 8AB, OX11 8AC, OX11 8AD etc are grouped at OX11 8. However you can request just OX11, or even OX which would look something like this;
    The other option is to create your custom ploygon where you group postcodes into say sales area, or more likely use a publicly available one such as those used on Government sites to show electoral areas or population grouping.  You do need to create your own Mapbox logon to upload the Geo Json files. There are some instructions to get you started in the CA manuals at

    https://www.ibm.com/support/knowledgecenter/SSEP7J_11.1.0/com.ibm.swg.ba.cognos.ug_ca_dshb.doc/t_map_dashboard_custompolygons.html
    Trust this helps



    ------------------------------
    Stephen Green
    ------------------------------



  • 3.  RE: UK Postcode maps

    Posted Wed November 04, 2020 07:51 AM
    There is some good tips on how to create your own polygons shapes here https://www.ibm.com/support/knowledgecenter/SSEP7J_11.1.0/com.ibm.swg.ba.cognos.ug_ca_dshb.doc/t_map_dashboard_custompolygons.html

    Also there are many public grouping available to download such as electoral areas or population groupings such as MSOA currently used in the virus tracking charts.

    By default CA groups Postcodes by area eg OX11 7AB, OX11 7AC, OX11 7 AD would all role up to OX11 7 which is the lowest level supplied in the UK. However if you request at the OX11 data it will role up, and even at the OX area with no need for custom Geo files.

    ------------------------------
    Stephen Green
    ------------------------------