Define a Geography Data Item

About Geography Data Items

A geography data item is a category whose values are mapped to geographical locations or regions. Geography data items can be used with geo mapsto visualize your data on a geographic map.

For example, if your data source contains a CountryName column that identifies countries, then you might create a geography data item for CountryName by using the predefined geographic role, Country or Region Names. See Define a Geography Data Item By Using a Predefined Geographic Role.

You might also create a customized geography data item to identify geographic information that is specific to your organization (for example, sales regions, warehouse locations, oil platforms, and so on). For each unique combination of category values, latitude values, and longitude values, a point is plotted on the geographic map. See Define a Geography Data Item By Using a Custom Geographic Role.

Note: For predefined geographic roles, the values of your geography data items must match the lookup values that are used by SAS Visual Analytics. To view the lookup values, see http://support.sas.com/va63geo.

Define a Geography Data Item By Using a Predefined Geographic Role

Here are the steps to define a geography data item by using a predefined geographic role:

In the Data pane or in the Data Properties window, locate a category that contains geographic information.
Change the role for the category to Geography. The Geography Role window appears.
Select the predefined geographic role for your category:

Country or Region Names

specifies countries or regions by name.

Country or Region ISO 2-Letter Codes

specifies countries or regions by using two-letter country codes from the ISO 3166-1 standard.

Country or Region ISO Numeric Codes

specifies countries or regions by using three-digit numeric country codes from the ISO 3166-1 standard.

Country or Region SAS Map ID Values

specifies countries or regions by using the two-letter codes that are used with the MAPSGFK library that is included with SAS/GRAPH.

Note: The two-letter SAS Map ID country values are identical to the ISO 3166–1 two-letter country codes.

Subdivision (State, Province) Names

specifies country subdivisions (for example, states and provinces) by using the subdivision names.

Subdivision (State, Province) SAS Map ID Values

specifies country subdivisions (for example, states and provinces) by using the two-letter codes that are used with the MAPSGFK library that is included with SAS/GRAPH.

US State Names

specifies states and territories in the United States by using the state and territory names.

US State Abbreviations

specifies states and territories in the United States by using two-letter postal codes.

US ZIP Codes

specifies five-digit ZIP codes for the United States.
Click OK to apply your changes.

Define a Geography Data Item By Using a Custom Geographic Role

Here are the steps to define a geography data item by using a custom geographic role:

In the Data pane or in the Data Properties window, locate a category that contains geographic information.
Change the role for the category to Geography. The Geography Role window appears.
Select Custom, and then specify the following:

Latitude

specifies a measure from your current data source that contains the latitude (Y) coordinate values for the geographic role that you want to define.

Longitude

specifies a measure from your current data source that contains the longitude (X) coordinate values for the geographic role that you want to define.

Coordinate Space

specifies the coordinate space (coordinate system) that is used to project the longitude and latitude coordinate values.
Click OK to apply your changes.