Ward boundaries update coming soon!

We are pleased to announce that we are currently in the process of updating the National Data Service to use the 2024 Ward boundaries. We are aiming to go live with this change over the weekend of the 5th & 6th October 2024.

Below a few questions and answers around this update.

1. Will the 2024 Ward boundaries replace the existing ward layer in the National Data Service?

Yes, the 2024 ward boundaries will become our standard ward geography. We will not retain the older ward layer.  If you have another vintage of wards as a custom geography, this will remain. If you would like us to remove the custom ward layer, please get in touch with our Technical Support team.

Most datasets will be aggregable from LSOA 2011, LSOA 2021 or OA 2021 layers. Where the smallest published level is the older ward layer, there will be some gaps in the data where it does not exist for 2024 wards and cannot be aggregated. This will not affect the majority of datasets.

2. What data will be available for the new ward layer?

When the source data is updated in its normal cycle for 2024 wards, we will include the source data in the service. Where data is available at LSOA 2011, LSOA 2021 or OA 2021, and can be aggregated or calculated, we will aim provide this for the 2024 wards.

3. Will Census 2021 data be available for the new ward boundaries?

We understand that there are no plans from the ONS to republish the Census 2021 data for the newer wards. We will, therefore, fill in the gaps where possible (see answer question 2 for more detail)

4. Will the historic time series of datasets be retained?

Yes, we will try and retain historic time series where possible (see answer to question 2 for more detail).

5. What methodology are you using for the update?

We use the same approach as the ONS. In summary, this means we use the ONS population weighted centroids. Each of them falls into one Ward and the entire value of the source area will be assigned to that Ward.

6. When can we expect the next update of the ward boundaries?

The aim moving forwards is to update the ward boundaries for all customers in the July/August of each year.

IA Report Builder 2.1.0 – 19 July 2021 Release Notes

Overview

Report Builder version 2.1.0 introduces a new widget, the Toggle Content widget. This has been added in order to enable content sections in a report to be expanded/collapsed by the end user. Prior to the addition of this widget, the same “accordion” effect had to be achieved using styling in the website that the report was embedded into.

Toggle Content Widget

In the example below, the end user can click the button next to the Safeguarding heading to collapse the content below it (this is just an image, the toggle won’t do anything here!).

InstantAtlas Report Builder Toggle Content Widget

The different settings available for this widget are described on the widget help page.

Number Formatting

It is now possible to specify a percentage number format (P) for your widget to show data as percentages. For example, for a Data Table widget, locate the Number Format setting under Numbers & Values and replace this with P. For a Bar Chart widget, locate the Axis Label Format setting under Axes and type in P. Visit this page for more on the number formats supported in Report Builder.

If you have any questions relating to this release please contact support@instantatlas.com.

IA Report Builder 2.0.2 – 14 June 2021 Release Notes

Overview

Report Builder version 2.0.2 addresses a number of bugs, several of which will  ensure a smoother migration from version 1 to version 2 reports. We have also added some of the functionality of Report Builder 1 that had not yet been implemented in version 2, as well as performance, accessibility and error handling improvements.

Bug fixes

  • Bar Charts set to horizontal orientation now also work when the selected data contains upper and lower confidence limits.
  • The Scatter/Bubble Chart widget has gained the setting X Axis Range which allows the x-axis to be constrained between two defined values.
  • The Scatter/Bubble Chart widget can now be configured to show all points in the same colour without having to define a separate colour for each feature. This is done by switching Constrain Palette Colors on:
  • The Filled Icon widget now shows the icon filled in the selected Highlight Color if Highlight Selected Feature is enabled.
  • Copying widgets from one report to another now works more reliably. In version 2.0.1 and when copying multiple widgets in succession, a browser refresh was required between pasting different widgets.
  • In the Edit Chart Colors… dialog (main menu – StylingChart Colors) the Toggle direct edit buttons now work by providing a text field to insert colour values in hexadecimal or RBG format.
  • Exiting a report now takes the user back to the same folder view with the same sorting retained.
  • Fix for an issue with hash/anchor links that occurred when using the # symbol in the browser address bar . This allows users e.g. to jump to a particular section of a report by providing the URL to the anchor tag.
  • Fix for certain font families (those containing spaces in the name) not being applied in view mode of a report.

Improved migration

  • Pie Charts in migrated reports no longer group small segments together into one category.
  • Titles of Table widgets are now migrated correctly.
  • The content of the Table Footer settings from Report Builder 1 is now migrated to the setting Caption in Report Builder 2.
    Please note: Any tables in reports that have been migrated and saved before the release of Report Builder version 2.0.2 will have lost the Table Footer text. You can re-add the text by entering it into the Caption setting manually. Alternatively, if the equivalent version 1 report still exists, you can migrate it again.

Additional functionality

  • It is now possible to change the font colour of text in a Text widget through the editor toolbar. You have the option to choose one of the predefined colours or use the palette icon to open the Color Picker dialog
  • The Advanced Settings dialog in the Pages menu has gained options to customise the index page of the report.
  • Any changes to the Pages|Advanced Settings dialog now turns the Save button of the report editor orange, indicating that there are unsaved changes.
  • Line and scatterplot widget point styles have been extended and some of the less obvious options have been subtly renamed.
  • Web accessibility has been improved by adding the option to show unique point markers in chart series lines and index options to chart labels – please see this blog post to find out more about accessibility for reports created using Report Builder. 
  • The Data Catalog data model is cached in the browser whilst the editor page is open, which means the widget settings dialog opens faster.
  • Improved error messaging when/if connections fail.
  • Widgets have become more robust to temporary data connection errors. If a connection fails, the widget will attempt to reconnect to the data after a few seconds, up to 3 times before giving up.

If you have any questions relating to this release or migration of reports from version 1 to version 2 please contact support@instantatlas.com.

Announcing InstantAtlas Report Builder+

Starting today (6th February 2019) if you are an existing customer you may notice some differences in Report Builder and Dashboard Builder. We have reorganised our products in the ArcGIS Marketplace to streamline and improve both your experience and our workflow. So from now, Dashboard Builder and Report Builder have been merged into a single product, InstantAtlas Report Builder+. If you have previously purchased a licence for either Dashboard Builder or Report Builder you can upgrade to the new Report Builder+ and next time you sign in we will ask if you want to do just that. Continue reading Announcing InstantAtlas Report Builder+