1. What is Advanced Mapping

    1. User Toolkit

    2. How To's...

      1. Choose a location to view

      2. View data and/or services in more than one location

      3. See community services on my map

      4. Map demographic and health data

      5. Compare two different demographic variables

      6. Compare data for two different geographies

      7. Change the display colors of data on my map

      8. Get more detailed service information about a community resource on the map

      9. Print, save, email a map

    3. Animated Tutorial

  2. Selecting a Geography

    1. View a Single Area

    2. Choose Multiple Areas

    3. View Ranked Areas

  3. Selecting a Service Category

    1. Browse Data

    2. Keyword Search

  4. Selecting a Data Characteristic

    1. Browse Characteristics

    2. Keyword Search

    3. Choose Two Characteristics

    4. View Most Commonly Searched Data

  5. Advanced Options for Map Display

  6. Understanding the Map Box

  7. Map, Data, and Charts

    1. View Listing of Community Services with Map

    2. Service Rollover and More Information

  8. Viewing the Map Only

  9. Viewing the Chart Only

  10. Viewing the Map Only

  11. Print, Save, Download Maps, Charts and Service Lists

I. Community Services Room

The Community Services room provides over 20,000 resources including educational programs, job training, housing assistance, healthcare, and parks, compiled from 2-1-1 LA County, the City of Los Angeles, and the California Department of Education data. Simply select a service category and geography to instantly view interactive maps of services within a particular community.

a. User Toolkit

The user toolkit is located on the right side of the page when searching for a community service to map. View animated tutorials on how to search the website and map data, access the user manual to find specific instructions on any particular section of the website, look up the definition of services and what categories to find them in, and review the data source directory to see where all of the data comes from.

I. Advanced Mapping

Healthy City's advanced mapping room allows users to create detailed maps looking at one or two community characteristics or two geographic areas for comparison. It also allows you to compare certain datasets from two different years. The map room is laid out like an artist's palette with a map in the center surrounded by four quadrants that correspond to data that can be placed on the map. The upper left quadrant displays the geography and community resources you are viewing and the lower left quadrant lists any mapped resources. The upper right quadrant displays the community characteristic you choose to map and the lower right quadrant shows the corresponding graphs and charts for the characteristic that is being mapped.

a. User Toolkit

Click on the User Toolkit tab at the top of the page above the map for help on how to use the advanced mapping room. View animated tutorials on how to map data and create advanced maps, access the user manual to find specific instructions on any particular section of the website, and review the data source directory to see where all of the data comes from.

b. How To's...

After clicking on the User Toolkit tab at the top of the page above the map, the How To's will be located under the user toolkit. The How To's explain how to go through common steps in the advanced mapping room, such as comparing two data characteristics or two geographies, changing the display of a map, or printing and emailing maps.

II. Selecting a Geography

To select a geography, click the link under "Geography" in the upper left quadrant.


a. How to View a Single Area

Healthy City provides a wide range of locations to view your data results. Choose from Census block group, ZIP Code, city, LA City Council District, and LAUSD school attendance boundaries, etc...


Note: You can view more geographic options by clicking on "Political Boundary." Select from LA County Supervisorial Districts, State Senate Districts, LA City Council Districts, LA City Neighborhood Council Districts, etc.


b. Viewing Maps for Multiple Areas

You can search two areas at a time if you want to compare data in different geographic locations. Simply click on the "Show 2 Areas" tab and choose the two geographies you want to view.


You will then see two maps which you can add data characteristics and community services to.


c. View Data and Maps of Areas with Highest Concentration of a Selected Characteristic

You can also view the top 10 areas with the highest concentration of a particular characteristic by clicking the "Rank Areas" tab. If you have not already selected a characteristic to view, you will be prompted to do so here.


After selecting a characteristic, the top 10 areas with the highest concentration will be listed with the corresponding data. For example, the top 10 cities with the highest concentrations of persons ages 0-5 are listed below. Click on the area of your choice to view the map.


III. Selecting a Service Category to Map

To add community services to the map, click the link in the top left quadrant next to "service category."


A pop-up window will open. Select a search type by either clicking on the "browse service" or "search service" tab.

a. Browse by Category

Select a service category and the sub-categories of each type of service will appear in the box to the right. Click on one or all of the services you want to view. A further breakdown of sub-categories will appear in the third box to the right. Select all services by clicking the box "select/de-select all categories" under the category list, or choose specific services from each category by simply clicking on each type of service you want to view one-by-one.

Click to view map or, if you want to view more than one service category, click on after each selection.


Once all the services you want to map are listed, click .

Note: You can close the pop-up box at any time without selecting a characteristic by clicking on the "close T" symbol at the top right corner.


b. Keyword Search

If you do not know the specific service category you want to map, click the keyword search tab and then type in a word that best describes the service you want you are looking for (e.g., health). Click the search box to the right and select a service from the results.


After you select a service, click on for it to be mapped. Select multiple services by clicking another service category name and clicking after each selection. The selected services will be listed at the bottom of the page.


Once you've added each service you want to map to your list, click to view the map and list of results.


IV. Selecting a Data Characteristic

To select a community characteristic to map, click the link in the Characteristic box in the top right quadrant.


Select a search type by either clicking on the "browse data" or "keyword search" tab.

a. Browse Data

Select a category, subcategory and data source of the community data you want to view. Choose from various data sources and years including the latest US Census Bureau data. Then select a characteristic of the data category to narrow your search. Then choose a data source such as the 2000 US Census Bureau data, the 2005 or 2006 American Community Survey from the US Census Bureau, or 2008 and 2013 US Census estimates from Claritas, Inc.

Note: Depending on the data category you select to view, you can also choose from data sources such as the LA County Health Survey and the California Health Interview Survey.


Note: You can change the display mode to view your data in a thematic layer or graduated symbol. The thematic layer will show a color range to represent the data and graduated symbols will show different sized circles to display the concentration of the selected data.


Click to view the map and charts with your results.


b. Keyword Search

If you do not know the exact name of the characteristic want to view, click on the "keyword search" tab and then type in a word that best describes a characteristic you want to view (e.g. health). Click the search box to the right and select a characteristic from the results. Then select a data year and source to view the results on a map.


Note: You can also type in a service term or keyword into the search box in the upper right corner at anytime on the site.


Choose from the list of results by community resource, service category, or community characteristic. The example below shows the results list if you were to type "health" in the search box.


c. Choose Two Characteristics to Map

To map two community characteristics at once, first click the link in the Characteristic box in the top right quadrant of the map page.


Select the "Compare Characteristics" tab above the pop-up box. Then select each characteristic you wish to view.


If you map two characteristics, results will be displayed with a gradient of colors for one characteristic and graduated symbols for the other characteristic. After selecting your map preferences, click to view the map and charts with your results. You will see a map similar to the one below.


d. View Commonly Searched Data

To view a list of popular searches by other Healthy City users, click on the "Popular Data" tab next to the "Keyword Search" tab and select a characteristic from the list of searches.


Choose a data year and source and click to review your results on a map.


V. Advanced Options for Map Display

You can change options for displaying the data on a map by clicking on "advanced options." You can view data values by different geographic breakdowns, such as Census block group, Census Tract, City County, etc. Choose from options such as the number of classes you want to see the data broken into or the color of the thematic layers.


VI. Understanding the Map Box

The interactive map box allows you to zoom into the map, scroll over resource icons and click them for more information. There is also a legend at the bottom of each map corresponding to the community characteristic data on the map.


Note: Click the icon at the top of the map and then click any part of the map to find out specific details about an area's geographic boundaries and political jurisdictions. A pop-up box will display all boundaries representing the area you click, such as city, ZIP Code, LA County Supervisorial District, LA County Service Planning Area, etc.. Click on a boundary link to re-focus the map to that specific boundary.


VII. Map, Data and Charts

The map results page will show a map and a ranking of the selected characteristic data or just a map with services if no characteristic is selected. The 10 areas with the highest concentration and 10 areas with the lowest concentration of the selected characteristic will be displayed in the bottom left box. A chart and table of the characteristic data will be in the lower right box.


a. View Listing of Community Services with Map

Click the Map + List + Chart tab above the map to view a listing of selected community services and chart of selected characteristics alongside the map. The services will be listed in the bottom left corner and the characteristics chart and table will be in the bottom right corner. Scroll down in each box to view all services or see the full chart.


b. Service Rollover and More Information

From the "Map + List + Chart" tab, click on a resource from the list of services or scroll over a resource icon on the map and click it to get additional information about the organization. Find out contact information, services provided, hours of operation, etc.


Note: If you are logged in to your "My Healthy City" account, you can add a comment to a resource for future reference. Click on the resource name on the map to reveal the information box. Then click on the "Add Comment" tab at the top of the information box. Enter a title for your comment and start typing in the comment box.


Then click to save your comment. Click the "My Comments" tab after clicking the info box for any resource to review your comments.

VIII. View List Only

Click on the "list-only" tab above map to see just the list of services or just the map.


IX. View Chart Only

Click on the "chart only" tab above map to see just the charts and tables of the data presented.


X. View Map Only

To only view the map result of a community characteristic and/or services without the listing on the side, click on the "map only" tab above the map. If you are logged into your "My Healthy City" account, you can save the map to your homepage.


XI. Print, Save, Download Maps, Charts and Service Lists

You can click on icons above map to save, print or email your search results at any time.