A-B      C-D      F-L      M-P      Q-S      T-Z

All Jobs See Report Terms.

All Primary See Report Terms.

Analyze Concentric Rings A Create/Change Overlay option by which three concentric rings are drawn around a location in the map defined by the user. The area covered by the largest ring defines the reference area used for the overlay maps.

Area Profile Report One of several reports associated with the travel shed and concentric circle overlays. This report provides a demographic profile of workers employed in the selection area (Labor Shed option) or living in the selection area (Commute Shed option). The profile shows a breakout of workers by age, earnings, and industry groupings (2-digit NAICS codes).

Background Map Tools Tools used for controlling the display characteristics of a digital base map. The tools include Zoom In, Zoom Out, Re-center, and Layers Selection.

Both A map overlay Display Option in which both Points and Thermals are shown at the same time.

Browser A generic term to describe computer software used to access Internet-based websites. Examples include Microsoft Internet Explorer, Netscape, and Firefox. OnTheMap is designed to perform equally well with multiple browsers.

Buffer Size An option of the Buffered Selection tool. Allows users to select the buffer size in miles, with a resolution of 1/4 mile.

Buffered Selection Tool One of five Selection Tools. This tool defines a selection area based on a ring (or buffer) drawn around a line drawn on the map. The size of the ring is based on a user-specified radius in miles from the line on the map. The radius for the ring is set in the Buffered Selection settings box.

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Circle Radius An option of the Circle Selection tool. Allows users to select the circle radius in miles, with a resolution of 1/4 mile.

Circle Selection Tool One of five Selection Tools. This tool defines a selection area based on a ring drawn around a selected point on the map. The size of the ring is based on a user-specified radius from the selected location. The radius for the ring is set in the Circle Selection settings box.

City Lookup Results A list of matching cities provided by the Place Name Lookup. Select a city from the list and click the "City Map" button. The map will automatically scale to the borders of the selected area.

Clear One of several Map Overlay Tools. The Clear button deletes (or clears) all current map overlays.

Commute Shed An option for shed analysis that shows where workers who live within a selected area are employed. (Note: At this time the Commute Shed shows locations of workers only in the selected area's state. For more information on this point, see the Sample Commute Shed Report [PDF;File Size: 712KB] .)

Commute Shed Map A map showing where workers who live within a selected area are employed. The selection area (their residence area) is highlighted in the map. Employment locations and job concentrations appear as points and/or thermals on the maps, depending upon user-selected options.

Concentric Circle Map A map showing where workers who live in a selected area (commute shed) work or where workers who are employed in a selected area (labor shed) live. The selection area includes three nested rings set at user-defined distances from a selected point.

Concentric Ring/Circle Report A report available for the Analyze Concentric Rings overlay option. The report is similar to the Area Profile Report, but instead of showing three different years, it shows three columns corresponding to the three rings for the single year selected in the options (i.e., 5 miles, 3 miles, and 1 mile for 2004).

Continue Paired Area A Create/Change Overlay module that completes the two-step selection process to define paired areas for shed analysis. See Create Paired Area for more information.

County Lookup Results A list of matching counties returned during the Place Name Lookup. Select a county from the list and click the "County Map" button. The map will automatically scale to the borders of the selected area.

Create Paired Area A Create/Change Overlay module that begins the first of two selection processes to define paired areas for shed analysis. One selection is a home area and the other is a workplace area. A map is drawn showing the two selection areas and a report is produced showing the number of workers that live in the home area and are employed in the workplace area.

Create Travel Sheds A Create/Change Overlay module that permits users to map the home/work travel relationships for workers in a selected geographic area. Based upon a user-defined selection, an overlay map is produced using points and/or thermal shading to show home origins (labor sheds) or workplace destinations (commute sheds). Three types of reports are produced that summarize travel patterns, area characteristics, and Quarterly Workforce Indicators (QWI).

Create/Change Overlay The primary Map Overlay tool for producing overlay maps and reports. Available modules permit the user to create Travel Sheds, Paired Area studies, and Concentric Rings analyses.

Display Options Tools for controlling how overlay maps are displayed as well as for displaying tabular reports.

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Freehand Selection Tool One of five Selection Tools. This tool allows the user to define a selection area by drawing a freehand polygon on the map. With the left (or control) button on the mouse depressed, a user drags the cursor across the map forming the outline of a polygon. This will select all Census blocks contained within the polygon for analysis.

Freehand Toggle A button in the Display Options toolbar that permits the user to toggle on or off the outline of the selection area polygon. This button will toggle Freehand selection outlines on or off at any point during an analysis, although selection area outlines created with other selection tools (i.e., Layer Selection, Buffered Selection, Circle Selection, Concentric Ring Analysis) will allow toggling only before the user has clicked the Points, Thermals, or Both buttons.

In See Zoom In.

Job Type An option to select the type of jobs that will be displayed in the shed overlay. The four types of jobs are All Jobs, All Primary, Private Jobs, and Private Primary. See Report Terms for full definitions.

Labor Shed An option for shed analysis that shows where workers who are employed in a user-defined selection area live.

Labor Shed Map A map showing where workers who are employed in a user-defined area live. The selection area (the area in which workers are employed) is highlighted in the map. The locations of residences appear as points and/or thermals in the map, depending upon options selected by the user.

Layer Selection Tool One of five Selection Tools. This tool allows the user to select an area by picking one or more features in a particular map layer. The user chooses the layer type (County, Place, Tract, etc.) from a list and drags the mouse, with left control button depressed, across the map to select the feature(s) within that layer to be included in the analysis.

Layers A Background Map Tool used for turning specific map layers (County, Place, Tract, etc.) on or off. OnTheMap uses existing geographic data sources and definitions. In particular, the standard geographies are derived from the Census Bureau's TIGER files. Additional information about TIGER geography may be found at http://www.census.gov/geo/www/tiger/index.html. Additionally, DOL's Employment and Training Administration (ETA) provides the definitions of workforce and economic development resources, such as the definitions of Workforce Innovation in Regional Economic Development (WIRED) regions. LED collects the definitions of Workforce Investment Board areas from partner states. For more information on individual layers, see the Table of Contacts for Geographic Sources.

Live or Work An option to select the type of shed to be displayed in the shed overlay. The two options for shed type are Commute Shed and Labor Shed.

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Map Key A check box positioned on the lower left-hand corner of the map viewer adjacent to the Overlay Key check box and above the Map Scale. The Map Key displays the line and polygon colors that correspond to the visible map layers. The Map Key can be toggled on or off by clicking on the check box. The Map Key and the Overlay Key may not both be turned on at the same time.

Map Overlay Tools Tools used for creating and controlling the map overlays found in the OnTheMap application.

Map Scale A scale bar indicating distances (in miles) on the map. The scale changes as the user zooms in and out of the map viewer.

Name An option for shed analyses to place a custom name on any of the generated reports.

Out See Zoom Out.

Overlay Key A check box positioned on the lower left corner of the map viewer alongside the Map Key check box and above the Map Scale. The Overlay Key provides a numeric translation for the points and thermals displayed in an overlay map. Points are sized based on the concentration of workers in a Census block, while the thermals show worker density measured in workers per square mile. Both are shown in five range breakouts. The Overlay Key can be toggled on or off by clicking on the check box. The Map Key and the Overlay Key may not both be turned on at the same time. See Known and Unresolved Bugs for existing limitations with the Overlay Key.

Overlay Map An overlay consisting of points and/or thermals placed on top of the geographic reference map showing demographic travel patterns and worker concentrations. Users have significant control over the information displayed on the overlay maps.

PDF Portable Document Format. A file format that permits reports to be saved and printed just as they appear in the application. Users cannot change the contents of PDFs unless they have specific software that provides this capability. U.S. Census Bureau's PDF page

Place Name Confirmation A webpage that lists the results of a Place Name Lookup separated into State Lookup Results, County Lookup Results, and City Lookup Results. If the desired state, county, or city is found, the user can select it from the lists and click the appropriate button to map the area.

Place Name Lookup A tool for quickly finding a state, county, or city/town (as defined by the U.S. Census Bureau) in the map view. The Place Name Lookup requires that the user enter all or part of a state, county, or city name to be searched. Results are listed by geography type on the Place Name Confirmation webpage. The Place Name Lookup is available on the entry page for OnTheMap as well as in the Search toolbar within the application. Clicking on the Place Name Lookup within the application is a quick way of starting a new shed analysis. (Note: Colloquial or neighborhood names are not included, i.e. Rosslyn, VA, neither are county subdivisions, military base names, WIB area names, or WIRED region names. All states/counties/cities/towns are listed; however, not all states have data available in OnTheMap.)

Points A Display Option by which users can display points in an overlay that represent workers' employment areas or residence areas. Points are located at the center points of Census blocks. The size of each point is based on the number of jobs located in that block. The scale of the points varies dynamically and the value ranges are shown in the Overlay Key. Blocks with no workers are not displayed.

Print/Save One of the Map Overlay Tools. This button pops up a new window that allows users to print or save the current map overlay image. When saving the map overlay, the default filetype is Portable Network Graphics (PNG) and is best viewed at 100% scale. Alternatively, users can save the map as a JPEG or Bitmap image through the "Save Picture" dialog window. Note: Firefox users must add one of the following extensions to the end of the file name for the image to save correctly: PNG - use <.png>, JPEG - use <.jpg>, and Bitmap - use <.bmp>.

Private Jobs See Report Terms.

Private Primary See Report Terms.

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QWI Report A type of Report that is associated with a workplace selection area. The report provides ten Quarterly Workforce Indicators (QWI) that include job shifts, new hires, separations, and the average earnings of new hires and separations. This report is accessible from the Create/Change Overlay module for Labor Sheds only. See the documentation links at QWI Online for more information.

Re-Center A Background Map Tool that permits the user to reposition the map view without changing the scale of the map. The user picks a new center point on the map and the map is redrawn with the chosen location at the center of the map.

Re-use Selection Tool One of five Selection Tools. This option permits the user to use the previous selection area for another shed analysis. With the Re-use selection tool, the user can run a series of maps and reports without having to redraw or reselect the geographic area.

Report A button in the Display Options toolbar that initiates creation of a tabular report based on the current overlay map. The specific report type is established prior to this point in the Create/Change Overlay settings options. Some reports are specific to the analysis performed, i.e., Paired Area and Concentric Ring analyses.

Report Type An option to select the type of report to accompany the shed overlay. The three types of reports available for shed analyses are the Shed Report, Area Profile Report, and QWI Report (available only for Labor Sheds). A Concentric Ring Report is available when performing a Concentric Ring Analysis. A Paired Area Report is available when performing a Paired Area Analysis.

Ring 1/2/3 Options available for the Concentric Ring Analysis. Allows the user to set the radii of the 3 rings in miles with resolutions of 1 mile. (Note: Ring 1 is the smallest ring and must have a radius smaller than that of Ring 2, which must have a radius smaller than that of Ring 3.)

Selection Area A user-defined geographic area that serves as the basis for the map overlays and reports. These areas are defined by using one of the selection tools (Re-use selection, Freehand, Layer selection, Buffered selection, Circle selection, or Concentric Ring analysis). The selection area outline will be highlighted in the map.

Selection Tool A set of five tools (Re-use Selection, Freehand, Layer Selection, Buffered Selection, and Circle Selection) used for defining geographic selection areas. Selection areas are the basis for the accompanying overlay maps and reports.

Shed A general type of analysis that shows where residents of an area work or where workers in an area live.

Shed Report A type of Report showing which cities, counties, and states are providing workers for employers in a selected area (Labor Shed) and which cities and counties are providing jobs to workers living in a selected area (Commute Shed). (Note: At this time the Commute Shed shows locations of workers only in the selected area's state. For more information on this point, see the Sample Commute Shed Report [PDF;File Size: 712KB] .)

State Lookup Results A list of matching states returned during the Place Name Lookup. Select a state from the list and click the "State Map" button. The map will automatically scale to the borders of the selected area.

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Text-based Tool A text-only version of the application accessible from a tab at the upper right corner of the OnTheMap application. This utility permits users to produce Travel Shed Reports, Area Profile Reports, and QWI Reports for any city or county without having to interact with the map viewer.

Thermals A Display Option that highlights areas with particularly high concentrations of workers. The shaded thermal clusters use a spatial modeling and area averaging technique that calculates workers per square mile across adjacent blocks and neighborhoods. A thermal has five levels of shading with darker shading indicating higher density. Only areas of higher density are displayed.

Travel Shed An analysis technique for showing the relationship between residences and workplaces. In this application, there are two general types of travel shed analyses: Labor Sheds and Commute Sheds.

Year An option to select the year of data that will be displayed in the shed overlay. Most states have data available for 2002, 2003, and 2004. See the Notes/Disclaimers section of the Help site for more information.

Zoom In A Background Map Tool that permits users to change the scale of the map to see more map details. Users may view U.S. regional maps or zoom in to a city or neighborhood and perform the same type of labor market analysis at these levels.

Zoom Out A Background Map Tool that permits the user to view a map from farther out. Users can define specific employment centers, for example, and then zoom out to see the Labor Shed patterns for that area at a regional or statewide level.

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Is a term or a definition missing? Send an email with suggested improvements or questions to CES.Local.Employment.Dynamics@census.gov.