Many of you know that there are tons of data and tools in SAVI, and with tools like Quick Info and Community Profiles, we’ve been packing data to make it easier for you to access. One of SAVI’s newest tools, SAVI Indices, gives you access to data with a single click.
With our Indices tool, we have taken a handful of indices and placed them in an easy-to-use interface. Indices are useful because often users want to know what areas are struggling with socio-economic factors but don’t want to dive in to the details of multiple indicators trying to piece them together. An index can do that work for you by combining multiple variables into a single value to show an overall picture of an area.
This tool was made possible thanks to funding from the Richard M. Fairbanks Foundation to support public health uses. Public health researchers, for example, use indicators of socio-economic conditions for inclusion in analysis of health conditions and disparities.
However, these data have utility for many audiences.
SAVI Indices allows you to:
- Explore differences across Central Indiana by county, township, and census tract
- View geographies ranked by index value in a bar chart
- Identify peer or “like” geographies
- Identify target areas
- Compare demographics and social factors of communities
- View and download the data behind the indices
Using the tool is easy. Go to https://www.savi.org/savi/saviindices/. By default we show the GINI Index of Income Inequality that is calculated by the Census Bureau. When viewing any index by any geography you can click on the map to get more information for that area.
Click on an area to open the indicators window. You can also click on the chart to the left too.
The indicators tab includes indicator values related to the index you are looking at.
Use the other tabs to view pie charts of race and educational attainment and an age pyramid. You can interact with the pie charts by clicking on legend items to turn pie slices off.
Selecting a different index is as easy as hovering over the index name and selecting a geography level.
The map will update automatically with the new index and geography.
You can also download all of the data in a single spreadsheet using the Download Data button.
And when it doubt, click the Help button for further explanation.
So please take SAVI Indices for a spin and let us know what you think.
