Ring studies are used to determine the characteristics of up to three areas defined by a known location. A location is established, the distance from that location for each ring is specified, and a type of EASI report is selected. The resulting report shows each value for the EASI variables for the areas whose population centroids fall within each of the rings.
The options on the page are:
Available Locations. Contains a drop down list of previously stored locations (paid subscribers only). Load Location causes the selected location to be loaded to the page. Delete Location removes the stored location. If no locations have been stored previously, a new location must be generated using either the street address or the latitude and longitude of the location.
1. Select a Ring Study type and the size of your Study Rings. In the dialog box, select Three Rings or Single Ring for the study. Select the radius of the circle for each ring, extending from the selected location. Study Rings can range from 0.01 to 800 miles. When the largest ring size selected is 15 miles or less, Block Groups are used to build the location reports. When the largest ring size selected is greater than 15 miles, ZIP Codes are used.
2. Select a report. Select a specific report for the location from the list of EASI reports. Various reports are available for population, households, family characteristics, income, employment, establishments, and consumer expenditures. The specific reports available will vary by the level of subscription purchased.
3. Enter a description of the location you are studying. Use a word or phrase that characterizes this location. The location can be saved after the site study is created by clicking Save Location (paid subscribers only).
4. To find the latitude and longitude of your site. This self explanatory box provides a method to find the latitude and longitude of the site. Enter the address and select "Find Address Plus Map" or "Find Address Coordinates."
Find Address Plus Map will result in a map pinpointing the location. Use the icons above the map to zoom or to change the size of the map. Clicking within the map re-centers the map to the cursor's location. If the correct area has not been shown, refine the syntax of the address after clicking on Return to Site Selection. If the location is correct, click on Create Site Study.
Find Address Coordinates will return a message reading "The latitude and longitude of the address you requested have been entered below for you." To immediately create the report, click on Create Site Study in the left hand navigation area.
In either method of selection, if The Right Site is not able to locate an address it will return a message including a link to an alternate web site to use to search the address. Copy the resulting coordinates into The Right Site and continue.
5. If you want to modify the coordinates for your site If the site under consideration does not have a street address or if the coordinates are already known, this dialog box provides an area to directly input the latitude and longitude of the site and bypass Step 4. Simply select a format for the coordinates and enter the latitude and longitude in the corresponding boxes.
6. Create Site Study. Builds the report. The report shows the variables and the values for each of the ring or rings specified. To see a map with one of the variables in the report plotted for the ring study, simply click on Site Study Map in the left hand navigation area. See the section on Site Study Maps for further information on this feature.
Refer to Printing or Exporting Reports for more information on using the information in the resulting report.