If you are uploading a .csv with tabular data, use our geo-reference tool to connect your data to one or more of mySidewalk’s included geographies (e.g. ZIP codes, counties, states, etc.) Uploads must use a .csv file smaller than 50MB in size.
For files containing a single geography
Format your data
Follow these formatting rules for a successful upload when your data is for a single geography:
Include only one header row.
Excel has quick methods for combining multiple header rows if you need to merge them to create a single row.
Use headers formatted like Covid_Total Cases and Covid_Total Vaccines if you have subcategories you want to leverage in the names.
Put date/time in the first column.
Most common date formats are acceptable (mm/dd/yy, Month Day, Quarter, Year, etc.)
Each row should be a unique date.
The date will be incorporated into the column headers as metadata.
Remove unnecessary data.
A mass upload including data points you don’t plan to use in mySidewalk may cause issues later. It’s best to narrow your dataset now to the critical data.
Manage the blank rows, columns, and cells.
Remove any blank columns or rows. Having blank rows and/or columns in your file will cause the upload to fail.
Put a value in blank cells (“0” if applicable; otherwise, “null” or “none”). Empty cells will not become “0” values.
Remove all punctuation and symbols from numbers (commas and symbols like $, % will be incorrectly read as strings).
Move “Total” values to a separate column.
A spreadsheet of ZIP codes and an additional row for the county total, for example, will cause issues when you try to map the data.
Add totals as a column instead of a raw, which will allow you to use the total as a denominator when you want to display the data as a percentage. The total column will be the same value on every row.
👉🏽 Use the template attached to this article to help format your data.
Geo-reference and upload your data
Geo-referencing allows you to visualize your data using the same geographic boundaries that are available in mySidewalk. There are 15 different geographic classes in mySidewalk. They include: the nation, MSAs, MPOs, ZIP codes, states, places (including many neighborhoods and city council districts), USDs, congressional districts, state house and senate districts, counties, county subdivisions, census tracts, and block groups.
Note: If your data is for a geography type not listed above (e.g. health district, park district, or unique project area), you will need to upload a shapefile or draw your boundary using mySidewalk’s drawing tools.
This process will assign all of the data in your file to one mySidewalk geography. This can be any of the geographic classes we support (e.g. state, county, place, zip code).
From the navigation, click on Upload Data.
Drag and drop or browse your computer to upload your file.
If your entire dataset is for a single geography, select “Single Geography.”
Click the drop-down and search for the exact match of the geography in your file. In the example below, searching “32003” returns the ZIP code for selection.
4. Click Submit
A successful upload will result in a layer being created and move you to the layer management page in your Layer library. On this page, you can update the name of your layer, add tags, add a description, and change labels.
For files containing multiple geographies
Format your data
Follow these rules for a successful upload when your data is for multiple geographies:
Geography is required, put it in the first column.
Make sure your geography (e.g. ZIP code, city, county) is in the first column.
Include only one header row.
Excel has quick methods for combining multiple header rows if you need to merge them to create a single row.
Use headers formatted like Covid_Total Cases and Covid_Total Vaccines if you have subcategories you want to leverage in the names.
If you have time elements in your data, follow these instructions.
Every row must refer to a different geography.
Remove unnecessary data.
A mass upload including data points you don’t plan to use in mySidewalk may cause issues later. It’s best to narrow your dataset now to the critical data.
Manage the blank rows, columns, and cells.
Remove any blank columns or rows. Having blank rows and/or columns in your file will cause the upload to fail.
Put a value in blank cells (“0” if applicable; otherwise, “null” or “none”). Empty cells will not become “0” values.
Remove all punctuation and symbols from numbers (commas and symbols like $, % will be incorrectly read as strings).
Move “Total” values to a separate column.
A spreadsheet of ZIP codes and an additional row for the county total, for example, will cause issues when you try to map the data.
Add totals as a column instead of a raw, which will allow you to use the total as a denominator when you want to display the data as a percentage. The total column will be the same value on every row (see image below).
👉🏽 Use the template attached to this article to help format your data.
Add SHIDs to your file for automated upload (optional)
Recommended for files with 10 or more rows/geographies
When you have a file that contains many geographies, you will need to provide a way for our system to recognize them, and there are two options to do so.
Provide SHIDs - mySidewalk uses a unique identifier for geographical boundaries called a Spatial Hierarchical Identifier, or SHID. This identifier is more human-readable than the identifier (below) used by the Census Bureau and other agencies.
Provide GEOIDs - The Census Bureau and other agencies use GEOIDs for geographic identification. These are alphanumeric codes that stand for geographical boundaries.
Adding either identifier to your file will enable our system to recognize your geographies so that you can create visualizations using them. For example, you can upload data for the state of Missouri using the Missouri SHID (country:us/state:mo), which will automatically assign that data to the shape we know as Missouri.
If you know how to get and provide GEOIDs, great! If not, we recommend using SHIDs. Here’s how:
Go to Seek.
Select any data. It really doesn’t matter.
Select the geographies contained in the file you’re uploading (e.g. Missouri counties).
Click Export and choose Simple CSV.
Open the export and find the “shid” column.
Open the file you’re uploading and add a SHID column.
Match the SHIDs to their respective geographies in your file.
Creating a concatenate formula (Excel or Google Sheets), especially useful when the first part of the SHID is the same for every row. Using zip code as an example, you could make a formula like: =concatenate("country:us/state:ks/zip:", [cell reference]). Once the cell displays the desired output, copy and paste the values (over the formula) to ensure the correct data is ready for the CSV upload.
Creating a vlookup formula. You can 'lookup' the identifier using the feature name from your Seek export. Copy and paste the Seek export into another tab in your spreadsheet, we will assume that tab is named "Sheet2". Manipulate your columns until the Feature Label is the first column and SHID is the second column. We are assuming that the cell that defines your geography is in Cell A2 and B2 is the cell you want to put the SHID or GEOID. In cell B2 (in your original spreadsheet) you will make a formula that looks something like: =VLOOKUP(B2,Sheet2!A:B,2). Once the cell displays the desired output, copy and paste the values (over the formula) to ensure the correct data is ready for the CSV upload.
Save your file.
Now you’re ready to geo-reference and upload your data.
Geo-reference and upload your data
Geo-referencing allows you to visualize your data using the same geographic boundaries that are available in mySidewalk. There are 15 different geographic classes in mySidewalk. They include: the nation, MSAs, MPOs, ZIP codes, states, places (including many neighborhoods and city council districts), USDs, congressional districts, state house and senate districts, counties, county subdivisions, census tracts, and block groups.
Note: If your data is for a geography type not listed above (e.g. health district, park district, or unique project area), you will need to upload a shapefile or draw your boundary using mySidewalk’s drawing tools.
This process will assign all of the data in your file to different mySidewalk geographies. Census tract and census block group are excluded.
From the navigation, click on Upload Data.
Drag and drop or browse your computer to upload your file.
Select “Multiple Geographies”. The Multiple Features option allows you to assign a different geography to each row in the table. Every row must be assigned and duplicate geographies are not allowed (if same ZIP code is found in two rows, only one row will load).
If you used the SHID method to prepare your file, each of the geographies in your dataset will be auto-matched to the mySidewalk geography. If you did not use the SHID method to prepare your file, you will need to manually match each of the geographies in your dataset to the mySidewalk geography (as shown below).
4. After matching and reviewing the geographies, click Submit.
A successful upload will result in a layer being created and move you to the layer management page in your Layer library. On this page, you can update the name of your layer, add tags, add a description, and change labels.