Performing analysis

Subscription:

Using the Perform Analysis tools in the ArcGIS.com map viewer requires an organizational account with a publisher or administrator role. For more information, see Creating an account.

Imagine you've been tasked to evaluate potential sites for a new warehouse. This evaluation is to be based on access to transportation, the presence of special restrictions such as nearby historical neighborhoods, access to restaurants and other facilities that employees may need, access to public transportation for employees, and nearby land-use that may restrict or enhance development. How do you evaluate these sites in a quantifiable and defensible way? Of course you need data, but you also need tools that can analyze and measure geographic relationships.

Whenever you look at a map, you inherently start turning that map into information by finding patterns, assessing trends, or making decisions. This process is called spatial analysis, and it's what our eyes and minds do naturally whenever we look at a map.

But many patterns and relationships aren't always obvious by looking at a map. Often, there's too much data to sift through and present coherently on a map. The way you display the data on the map can change the patterns you see. Spatial analysis tools let you quantify patterns and relationships in the data and display the results as maps, tables, and charts. The spatial analysis tools that are now part of ArcGIS Online empower you to answer questions and make important decisions using more than a simple visual analysis.

Spatial analysis is in Beta release

Beta:

The analysis tools that you can access and use (described below) are in beta release. This means a few things to you.

• ArcGIS Online beta enhancements are available to all ArcGIS Online organizations. They are stable components of the site that may have incomplete functionality or documentation and may contain some minor issues.
• There is no credit cost for performing analysis during the beta period. However, credits are charged for the hosting of the feature services that are the result of an analysis. For more information on credits, see Service credits overview which includes access to an interactive Service Credits Estimator.
• When the beta program ends, analysis tools will consume credits. There will be announcements about the transition from free use of the tools to credit-based use.
• If you have issues or are experiencing problems with any of the beta functionality, please contact Esri Technical Support or visit the ArcGIS Online forum.
• As described below, each category, tool, and tool parameter has its own pop-up help window. During beta, some of this help may not have been translated into your language. Localized help is forthcoming.
• Finally, some of the tools are disabled in beta, meaning that you cannot execute the tool. We show these tools so that you can see what's coming in future releases.

Performing analysis

To access analysis tools and perform an analysis, follow the steps below.

Note:

In order to perform analysis, you must be logged in with a publisher or administrator role for your account. If you are logged in with a user role, you will not see the Perform Analysis option as described below.

Steps:

1. Open a web map containing the feature layer or layers you want to analyze in the ArcGIS.com map viewer.
2. Click the Contents button in the Details panel.
3. Click the arrow to the right of the layer name and click Perform Analysis. The Perform Analysis panel appears as illustrated below.

Exploring categories and their tools

The Perform Analysis panel is illustrated below. This panel contains a number of categories, and each category contains tools. To view the tools within a category, click the expand/collapse button on the left side of the category.

Beta:

Some tools, such as Summarize Nearby, are disabled. These tools will become available in future releases. You can click their help button to read about the tool's function and purpose, but you cannot view the tool's dialog box.

Working with a tool dialog box

To open an analysis tool dialog box, click the tool icon. This will open the tool's dialog box as illustrated below with the Aggregate Points tool dialog box.

Note:

The layer you clicked to open the Perform Analysis panel is called the analysis layer. Tools are aware of the analysis layer on which you are performing an analysis, and some tools only work on certain kinds of feature types. For example, Aggregate Points requires an analysis layer containing point features. If the tool cannot operate on the analysis layer you've chosen, the dialog box will not open. If you chose Perform Analysis on an analysis layer containing area or line features, then clicked the Aggregate Points tool, a message box will display with the text "You need to select a point feature layer to run this tool."

Each tool has a different set of parameters. You can always view help for a parameter by clicking the help icon next to the parameter as illustrated above. All tools have a Result layer name parameter where the results of running the analysis are written. You can change this name or use the default value.

Layers and data you can analyze

You can perform analysis on the following types of layers and data.

• Feature service
• Map service
• Comma-separated values (CSV) file (.csv)
• GPS exchange format file (.gpx)
• Shapefile (.zip)
• GeoRSS web feed

For more information on these layers and data, see About adding items.