mySidewalk visualizations are already interactive, enabling viewers to hide certain geographies. But you may want more flexibility or to set up individual visualizations for each geography.

Using collections, geography filters allow viewers to find data for the places they care about most. This guide outlines three ways to add geography filters to your reports and dashboards:

Filter a single visualization
Filter multiple visualizations
Filter a full report

You can also follow along with the video below.

When to Add Geography Filters

You may want to add geography filters if:

Your organization serves multiple geographies, such as a health district with two or more counties.
It's important to your organization and/or the geographies represented that each area receives a version of the data that has just their information.
You want to organize your dashboard by location and subtopic, but run into trouble when you try to add multiple levels of subpages.

How to Filter Your Visualizations by Geography Using Collections

Filtering a Single Visualization

To filter a single visualization, follow these steps:

Edit the Page: Navigate to the dashboard or report where you want to add a filter.
Create Your Visualization Template: Set up the visualization you would like to appear for each of your geographies.
Add a Collection: Click the plus button (+) and select Collection. Name it with a descriptive title, such as "Median Household Income."
Set Up Geography Screens: Create a screens for different geographies, then set each Screen Title to a geography name.
Select Dropdown Style: Ensure that Dropdown is selected under Style.
Copy and Adjust the Visualization:
- Using your template visualization, select Copy to, Collection, then select a screen.
- Copy until each screen has the visualization.
- Adjust each visualization to show the geography present in the Screen Title.
Add a Callout (optional): To guide users, insert a custom callout with instructions such as:
- "Click the dropdown arrow to select a geography."
- Use a downward arrow icon to enhance visibility.

Filtering Multiple Visualizations

To apply a filter to multiple visualizations simultaneously:

Prepare a Template Report: Create a report containing multiple visualizations with a default geography.
Edit the Page & Add a Collection: Navigate to the dashboard or report where you want to add a filter, then create a collection and name it appropriately.
Set Up Geography Screens: Create a screens for different geographies, then set each Screen Title to a geography name.
Select Dropdown Style: Ensure that Dropdown is selected under Style.
Update the Template Report Geography: Modify the template report’s geography according to the geography title in your first screen.
Import Report to the Collection Screen:
1. Back in your collection, click the plus button (+), then Import Report.
2. Uncheck the "Apply default colors and geographies to import" box.
3. Select your template report.
Repeat Steps 5 and 6 for Other Geographies.
Add a Callout (optional): To guide users, insert a custom callout with instructions such as:
- "Click the dropdown arrow to select a geography."
- Use a downward arrow icon to enhance visibility.

Filtering an Entire Page

To enable full-page filtering:

Prepare a Template Report: Create a report with the content you want to add to the collection.
Edit the Page & Add a Collection: Navigate to the dashboard or report where you want to add a filter, then create a collection and name it appropriately.
Set Up Geography Screens: Create a screens for different geographies, then set each Screen Title to a geography name.
Modify Geography:
- Update the report’s geography to include what you want on the first collection screen.
Import Report to the Collection Screen:
1. Back in your collection, click the plus button (+), then Import Report.
2. Uncheck the "Apply default colors and geographies to import" box.
3. Select your template report.
Repeat Steps 4 and 5 for Other Geographies.
Add a Callout (optional): To guide users, insert a custom callout with instructions such as:
- "Click the dropdown arrow to select a geography."
- Use a downward arrow icon to enhance visibility.