Resilience Insights

Click the Create project button in the upper right corner of the screen. The Create New Project window appears.

Create project button

Enter project information. Information fields include:

Define your project area. You can select from available boundaries or upload a custom project area boundary. You can't change the project boundary after you create the project. Project area boundaries can consist of multiple polygons.

For our example, we'll create a project for Berkeley, California, using the city boundary as the project area.

Project information and project area selection

Select a Context Area for your project (optional). Selecting a context area yields a reference layer that depicts existing land use beyond your project area. The Context Area layer contains the same attributes as the Base Canvas, but is static: it cannot be painted and is not included in scenarios or analysis. 

You can select from available boundaries. Begin typing the name of your location in the Location field, and Analyst will list available places (including cities, towns, and other census-designated places), counties, and core-based statistical areas (CBSAs) according to what you type. 

For our example, we'll use Alameda County, in which Berkeley is located, as the context area.

Context area selection

Click Create. Your project will be created. The time it takes will vary with the size of your project. 

Your newly created project will contain the following layers:

View including the Base Canvas, Context Area Land Use, and project and context area boundaries

Now you're ready to start working in Analyst!

Enter Explore mode. When you open Analyst or first create a project, you will be in Explore mode by default. If you're not in Explore mode already, enter it by clicking the Explore mode icon in the Mode bar on the left side of the screen.

Later tutorials will take us through the other modes.

View the Base Canvas. Select the Base Canvas from the Layers list to make it the active layer.

View the Base Canvas layer symbology. From the Layer Details pane, click the Style tab. The Style tab shows the layer symbology for the selected column, and serves as a legend for your map view. In later steps, we'll explore the Base Canvas by mapping different columns.

Base Canvas upon initial project creation

View feature data using the Inspection tool. From the map tools, click the Inspection tool, then click on a feature. This brings up a Feature Information window showing the column (attribute) values for the selected feature.

Feature Information window

View the data table. Click the DATA TABLE tab at the bottom of the screen to expand the data table. The data table corresponds to the layer that is currently active in the Layers list. Each row in the table corresponds to a feature; up to 100 rows are shown. If you make a selection of features, the table will show data for the selection only.

View of Data Table

Explore the canvas using the different levels of the Analyst land use hierarchy. Analyst allows you to map and assess existing land use for any U.S. location according to the same classification system. The land use system consists of four levels that vary in their specificity. We'll look now at the highest-level category, Land Use Summary (L1). For more about mapping land use levels, you can skip ahead to the Map Existing Land Use tutorial. For more about the system of land use levels, see Land Use Hierarchy.

Select Land Use Summary (L1) from the Column list. The symbology as it appears in the Style tab serves as a legend. The default symbology for the land use levels uses a color scheme common for representing land use.

View of Base Canvas symbology section

L1, as mapped below, is suitable for creating high-level maps. Zoom out to see how L1 looks at the project-wide scale, or for a similarly broad area.

Base Canvas mapped using Land Use Summary (L1) column

Design and export map(s). From here you may choose to style and export maps of the Base Canvas. You can click the Map Snapshot button at the top right corner above the map view to save a copy of the map as it appears on screen, or use Map Export to set size, resolution, legend, and scale options and export a full map layout. Map layout and export options are covered in later tutorials, or you can see the Features documentation for Export Maps to PNG or SVG.

Open the Layer Manager. Click the + Add at the top right of the Layers list.

Browse the available data layers. The Layer Manager organizes reference data by category. Expand the categories to see what data are available in your project and context area. Analyst includes reference data with national coverage, as well as data from state and local or other sources. For example, Analyst includes extensive data used to support the Conservation module (available for projects in California); these layers can be found in the Conservation category.

You can also look up datasets by name using the search box. Any layer names containing the text you enter will be returned.

Clicking on a layer displays its metadata, including a description of the dataset, the data source, scale, last updated date, and a column reference table including column descriptions and data types.

Add data layers to your project. Click the + button for a layer to add it to your project's Layers list. You can add multiple layers at once.

For our example, we'll add a few layers. You can find these under their respective categories, or by using the search box.

Click Close to close the Layer Manager.

Explore the data layers on your map. Once loaded to your project, reference data layers will appear at the bottom of your Layers list, and will be hidden by default. Re-order your layers as needed by clicking and dragging them to new positions in the Layers list. Show layers by clicking the Show icon .

Reference data layers generally come loaded with default symbology for a selected column. Be sure to explore other columns. You can view the column descriptions via the Source tab of the Layer Details pane, and explore the data through the map or data table.

To explore data using the map view, use the controls on the Style tab of the Layer Details pane to select the mapped column and view its symbology. We'll edit symbology in the next segment of this tutorial.

Sample of reference data layers in Berkeley, CA

Create a selection of features to explore in the data table. Click the tab at the bottom of the screen to expand the data table. The data table corresponds to the layer that is currently active in the Layers list. Each row in the table corresponds to a feature; up to 100 rows are shown.

If you make a selection of features, the table will show data for the selection only. As an example, we'll apply a filter and a join to the Public Transit Lines reference data layer to narrow down what is shown in the data table.

Export the data table. You can export layer data as a CSV file for further work in Excel or other spreadsheet applications. For example, you can use exported data to create custom charts, or run detailed analysis using pivot tables. Click the Export to CSV button, and a CSV file will be downloaded to your computer.

You also have the options for exporting spatial layers to multiple formats. We'll explore this in later tutorials.

You can continue exploring other reference data in the same manner. In the next tutorial, we'll focus on one of the layers to edit its symbology and create a map.

Click on the Base Scenario tab. Modules are run for individual scenarios. The Base Scenario, which consists of the Base Canvas, is generated upon project creation to reflect existing conditions.

Enter Analyze mode by clicking the Analyze mode button in the Mode bar. The Analysis Modules pane appears. All available modules are listed, and the current state of each is indicated.

Run the analysis modules. Hover over the Walk Accessibility module and click the Run analysis button . The module will start running. Do the same for the Transit Accessibility module, which can be run at the same time. As the modules run, you will see an in-progress indicator. When complete, a checkmark will appear. You can then view your results.

Running an analysis module

View the module results in Analyze mode. Analysis results can be viewed on the map and data table, via charts for the current scenario, or via charts in Report mode that compare results across multiple scenarios. We'll first look at the results in the Analysis pane.

Export summaries of the module results. Click the Export button to export the results for each module. For each, an Excel report containing all data as represented by the summary charts will be downloaded to your computer. You will also have the option of exporting the output layers or their data tables to work more closely with the results.

View the Walk and Transit Accessibility module output layers. Once an analysis run is completed, one or more output layers for the module appear in your Layers list. The Walk Accessibility module produces five output layers, all at the resolution of the Base Canvas:

The Transit Accessibility module produces five output layers, all at the resolution of the Base Canvas:

Explore the Walk and Transit Accessibility output layers. Each layer comes loaded with default symbology and data classification settings.

Design and export map(s). From here you can use the accessibility output layers in maps as needed. For guidance on styling layers, refer to previous tutorials or see Symbolize Data Layers. For more information on map layout and export options, refer to previous tutorials or see Export Maps to PNG or SVG.