How do I build a custom area?

Custom areas can be created by those who have the Administrator role at your organization. Once you have been promoted to an Editor you will see an  Admin section on your left-hand menu, beneath the standard menu. To add an area, click Areas in the Admin Menu. Click Create Area to add a new area. 

First, enter a name for the area you are defining. This is your label for the area. This name is how you will find this area when using IP3 ASSESS. Sometimes the name is as simple as the name of a county or city. However, you can name it after a region, a service area, a focus neighborhood, etc. 

Second, select a state to use for benchmark comparisons. We need to know what state to benchmark this region against. Choose a state from the list. 

Third, you will define your area. You will search for a location in the box below marked Define Your Area. The building blocks for building your areas include counties, places, ZIP Code Tabulation Areas (ZCTAs), and Census Tracts. You can choose multiple to build a region, and you can even mix and match. Our system will create a "cookie-cutter" out of these shapes to generate the values. To begin, start typing a county or city name, a ZIP code, or a Census tract. 

When you are done, click Create Area. The location will now be available through IP3 ASSESS for you to use. It takes about 10-15 minutes for all values to be populated. 

To edit an existing area, return to your Areas screen from the Admin panel. 

Click on the name of the area you want to edit. 

You can now update the name of the area, the state for benchmarking, and the building blocks. Add new or click the red X to remove a building block for your area. When you are done, click Save Area.