Q: How do I navigate the web map page?
A: Click here to access a guide to the web map tools and links.

Q: How do I navigate the profile page?
A: Click here to access a guide to the web profile tools and links.

Q: How reliable are the Indicator data?
A: In most cases the figures provided for each indicator are estimates subject to some form of estimation error.  Some indicators are more reliable measures than others but, in each case, they represent the project staff’s best efforts to assign an accurate value.  More information on how each item was calculated is provided in the Definitions.

Q: How does one compare indicators across neighborhoods?
A: For comparative purposes many of the Indicators have been "normalized" as rates or percentages; however some indicators, e.g., community pride violations, do not easily lend themselves to normalization. In cases where the appropriate base from which to calculate a rate is not connoted by the count, the reports provide only counts.

Q: Which items are suppressed and why?
A:  Data subject to suppression are those sourced from Madison Metro School District, Public Health of Madison / Dane County, and Dane County Human Services.  Data are suppressed for individual neighborhoods if they fail to meet the threshold counts established to protect confidentiality.  Any counts of five or fewer or percentages that rely on counts of five or fewer have been suppressed from the neighborhoods data.   Items have been suppressed from the Planning District geographies in order to avoid disclosing small counts that might be deduced from geographic comparison with overlapping neighborhood geographies.
Unsuppressed data is being made available to City of Madison planners and service providers for internal use.

Q: Why aren’t all the indicators available mapping dropdown selection lists?
A: Several of the profile items are removed from the dropdown list for Planning Districts and one is removed from the neighborhood list, in each case due to data suppression related to confidentiality.  See note above.

Q: Why are the Neighborhood Association and Planning District boundaries used in the Indicators project sometimes inconsistent with those maintained by the City for those areas? 
A: Some Neighborhood and Planning boundaries extend outside the City of Madison, into areas for which we have no reliable data source.   The original boundaries were clipped in order to include only those areas that were within Madison City limits. 

Q: Why aren’t all the items in the pdf profiles shown in the web profiles?
A: To improve site navigability the web profile provides lists either a count or a rate, but not both.