Case Study: Creating a Platform to Explore Local Data

Every five years, Northwest Hills Council of Governments (NHCOG) updates their Comprehensive Economic Development Strategy, which serves as a guide to the region’s 21 towns and economic development partners. Northwest Hills COG reached out to CTData to provide a data and analysis platform to be used in community presentations and meetings the kick of the first phase of the Comprehensive Economic Development Plan update.

Identifying Data Questions & Sources

Northwest Hills COG polled Northwest CT Economic Development Corporation members and stakeholders to find out which data questions would be most helpful to answer through this data gathering exercise. Questions included a range of topics, from population trends and housing costs, to understanding the types of businesses and industries in the region, to learning about commuting patterns.

Next, we identified data sources that would be most useful in answering the list of questions. Through discussion with NHCOG, questions were refined and adapted to make the most of publicly available data. We included data for individual towns, NHCOG as a whole, and Connecticut throughout the data explorer, so data sources with local-level data were essential.

We utilized the 2021 American Community Survey 5-year estimates to answer questions on numerous topics:

  • Population and population change

  • Household Income

  • Labor force participation

  • Employment

  • Industries and occupations

  • Commuting modes

We used the Census Bureau’s Longitudinal Employer-Household Dynamics Workplace Area Characteristics file to answer questions about the number of jobs in the region. Lastly, we brought in data from the Connecticut Department of Labor and the Connecticut Secretary of the State Business Registry to answer questions about business and employment.

Developing a Data Explorer

This project needed to communicate trends within several different datasets to a general audience. We decided to use a dashboard format to allow users to explore topics at different paces. Next, we considered using multiple technologies to create the dashboard and went with Tableau due to its flexible formatting options and ability to seamlessly combine charts, maps, tables, and text. We included navigation boxes along the top so that users could quickly delve into a particular topic.

The data explorer was divided into two analysis pages, two data exploration dashboards, and two data tables. The analyses provided summary narratives of the findings revealed by the data. The Town Data Explorer provided data from twenty different variables from the ACS in both a town-level choropleth map and in a sortable chart. The Business Data Explorer included two charts and two tables that could be updated to show either the region or a selected town’s data on businesses and employees. Lastly, the Industry Data Table and Occupation Data Table pages were made up of large, sortable tables with ACS data for Connecticut, NHCOG, and each of the twenty-one towns so that users had a method to get the specific data they needed.

Because many of the towns in NHCOG have small populations, we paid close attention to data limitations and wanted to make sure that these limitations were communicated clearly. Data from the ACS is published alongside margins of error. We included margins of error in data tables and tooltips throughout the explorer, as well as included notes and links to additional resources about margins of error and other data considerations in a documentation page.

Final Steps

NHCOG reviewed the data explorer and provided feedback to ensure the tool fit their specific needs. CTData incorporated these insights into a final Northwest Hills Data Explorer dashboard. The data explorer is available to the public and uses data visualization and analysis to eliminate barriers to finding and understanding local data. The data explorer was also included in the NHCOG Comprehensive Economic Development Strategy (CEDS) report.

For More Information

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Jill Walsh