American FactFinderEnhancements Crossover

November 2012Data Access and Dissemination Systems

(DADS)Requirements and Stakeholder Relations

Session Objectives

• Provide an overall view of enhancements that have been made since the release of AFF2 in January 2011.

• To provide an update of upcoming usability enhancements scheduled for release in January 2013.

• Provide an overview on the Beta Test Site

• Q&A session

• The new American FactFinder (AFF) was released on January 18, 2011 to the general public.

• In February, after the deployment of the 2010 Decennial Census Redistricting Data, the Census Bureau began to receive negative feedback regarding the design and usability of the new AFF.

• Feedback peaked in early March with significant criticism coming from the general public and other key Census Bureau Stakeholders

• Plans were developed to address the usability issues identified by end users and other stakeholders

American FactFinder

JANUARY 2011 NEW American

FactFinder Public Release

FEBRUARY 2011 2010 Census Redistricting

Data Released

MARCH 2011 AFF

Feedback Peaked with Significant Criticism

AUGUST 2011 Usability

Enhancement Efforts Begin

American FactFinder

Based upon the feedback analysis, usability challenges were grouped by the American FactFinder Key User Segments

•Confused about where to start

•Too many clicks to get to data (just wants a number)

•Too many search results (all look the same, titles are confusing)

•Confused by Census Jargon/Terminology

•Not enough on the site to entertain them

Surfer (Novice

User)

•Confused by Geographic Selection (overlay)

•Can’t find summarized data on their community (e.g. Fact Sheet)

•Does not understand faceted navigation and why certain topics appear/disappear based upon selections

•Frustrated with limited browser support

Portrayer (Novice to Advanced)

•Expecting “Google-like” Search

•Does not understand why certain dead ends are encountered

•Frustrated with limited browser support

•Wants more tools and guidance on how to create customized table views, charts and maps

Manipulator (Advanced

User)

•Does not know where to start on the site to get to large volume downloads

•Does not know what data are available on the site (release schedule)

•Encounters slow performance and errors when trying to perform high volume downloads

Extractor (Expert User)

Previous Enhancements

• Enhancement efforts have been made leading up to Release 6.

– 4Q2011 – January 20, 2012

– 1Q2012 – April 2012

– Release 5 – September 20, 2012

• Freezing ‘Your Selections’ and the top of the Search Results on the page so that they don’t disappear when the user scrolls the window

• Adding labels to clarify the behavior of how ‘Your Selections’ and the search results are related

• Modifying various labels to remove Census jargon and to use terms that users are better able to understand

• Making the behavior of the ‘Topics’ navigation the same as the behavior of the other overlays

• Adding animations to the overlays to make the addition of the user’s selections to the ‘Your Selections’ component more evident

• Modifying the behavior of the search results page to include instructions when no user selections have been made

• Modifying the behavior of the Economic Code search to roll-up the year dimension

4Q2011 Enhancements (January 2012)

1Q2012 Enhancements (April 2012)

• Provided guided geographic selection as an option (List Tab)

• Provided access to quick data by adding Popular Searches and Quick Facts on the Main Page.

• Added links to the Census FTP site and Data Release Schedule on the Main Page

• Provided quicker access to tables for a single geography with Community Facts.

• Improvements to existing geographic selection options

• Refine the list of Geographic Summary Levels displayed in the default view

• Enhanced Messaging

Release 5 Enhancements (September 2012)

• Ability to hide all instances of a dimension on the horizontal axis (i.e. Estimate or Margin of Error)

• Ability to preserve simple table modifications (Hide, Collapse, Filter) when downloading files in .csv format

• Simplified .csv download presentation to allow users to upload database compatible files easier (i.e. ArcGIS, SAS)

• Allow the user to select all Metropolitan / Micropolitan Statistical Areas within a State

• Addition of the Equal Employment Opportunity (EEO) overlay and radio button on Quick Start

• Allow the user to create thematic maps for single-select tables (i.e. data profiles, quick tables)

• Allow the user to copy/paste URLs for bookmarking

Release 6 Enhancements (January 2013)

• Release for the larger enhancements to address user feedback including:

• Quick and easy access to Census Data

• Enhanced text search and simplified geography selection

• Step-by-step guide to find Census Data

• Planned release: January 2013

Main Page

• The most noticeable change to AFF is the main page.

• Users will not lose any functionality.

Re-designed Main Page (Note: The following is a prototype design and may change)

Community Facts – provides a quick and easy way to find popular facts about your community.

Guided Search – guides you step-by-step as you search for Census data.

Advanced Search – Offers enhanced text search and simplified geographic selections (Current AFF)

Download – Offers help and quick links to help you with high-volume download

News and Notes – News and notes highlight has been added so you can quickly scan the headlines. Release notes have also been added to provide you with a summary of changes to the site.

What We Provide – Dataset links have been added to allow you to quickly navigate to the data.

Quick Tools – Access to Address Search, Reference Maps and loading your saved queries.

The Main Page has been redesigned to make the search pathways cleaner and clearer:

Community Facts

• Currently, Community Facts is activated when a user adds a single geography to their selections.

• It provides links to tables where the user can find the information they are looking for.

Community Facts

• It will now provide a single number for a small number of pre-defined measures without requiring a data product (table) view.

• Links to tables are still available below the single number.

• Community Facts can now be accessed from the Main Page where a user can enter their geography and click Go.

Advanced Search

• Currently there are 3 primary ways to search for data in AFF.

– Quick Start (from Main Page)– Filtered Search (i.e. Topics,

Geographies, etc.)– Narrow your search

• This functionality will still be available in Advanced Search.

Advanced Search

• Advanced Search is where a user can find all data in AFF. (current path)

• Now can refine search by Geography. After typing in a geography it will be added to your selections.

• The text search is now consistent with the faceted search. If you type in “age” it will yield the same results as if you went to Topics Age.

Download

• Link to FTP site is currently located on the Main Page.

• Currently opens up the FTP site in a new window.

Download

• A link to the FTP site can be found under the Download path

• In addition to a link to the main FTP site the download path will also include links to:

• American Community Survey - Downloadable data via FTP server

• 2010 Census Redistricting Data [P.L. 94-171] Summary Files

• Population Estimates - Downloadable Datasets

• County Business Patterns - Download CSV File

• The Download path will also provide help on download limits and restrictions.

News and Notes

Release notes are currently located beneath Quick Start on the Main Page and contains information on recent releases.

News and Notes

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News and Notes will now be located at the top right of the main page and will:

• Provide detailed Data Provider News and Notes

• Provide Release Notices describing updates to features and functions on AFF

• Provide a Data Release Schedule to show upcoming data releases

• Provide a Software Release schedule showing upcoming software releases

• Provide links to Email Updates

Guided Search

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New Feature for Release 6!

• Provide step-by-step guidance to users who are unsure of how to begin their search for data

• Provide breadcrumbs to give users a visual clue of their selections

• Provide the ability to skip, cancel, or view results at any point during the navigation of the wizard

• Provide a visual progress indicator so that users understand where they are in the process

• Provide simplified selections

Frequently Used Tools

• Tools that you have used before will still be available on AFF.

• Links to Using American FactFinder and What We Provide will still be available on the Main Page.

• The What We Provide section will now have links to ‘get data’ for a particular dataset with just one click from the Main Page.

• Tools such a Address Search, Load Query, and Reference Maps will still be available on the Main Page.

• A Link to Quick Facts is now available on in Community Facts.

Frequently Used Tools

Frequently Used Tools

Next Steps

• Allows for a preview of upcoming AFF usability enhancements for primary stakeholder groups.– Feedback and comments will be used to gauge and prepare for public

reaction to upcoming enhancements

• Allows for usability testing on a secured environment that contains only cleared, production data by the Census Center for Survey Methodology Usability Lab.– Used to inform the go/no-go decisions for upcoming key features and

functions scheduled for release

American FactFinder Beta Site

• Logistics walkthrough on Monday November 26, 2012 at 2:00

(Post-webinar Note: Date is postponed, tentative date Dec. 4, 2010).

• We will go over:– Purpose of the Beta Test– Participants of the Beta Test– How to log into the Beta Site– How to provide Feedback– How to log into the Questionnaire

American FactFinder Beta Site – Next Steps

Questions?

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