Overview

The Traffic Dashboard is an interactive data visualization of 9-1-1 and non-emergency calls received by Portland Police Bureau (PPB) related to crash and DUII incidents, as well as data available from Traffic Division related to digitally recorded warnings and citations. This tool is built to provide interactive analyses of traffic and enforcement data to interested members of the community.

The data used in this report is collected by the Bureau of Emergency Communications (BOEC) and sourced from the PPB’s record management system, RegJIN, as well as digital records maintained by PPB’s Traffic Division. The data is a record of community-generated 9-1-1 and non-emergency public safety calls involving a crash or suspected DUII, or a digital record of a citation or warning.

Technical Specifications

The report has been customized to work on personal computers, smart phones and tablets. For the best experience, it is recommended you use a desktop or laptop computer.

No additional software is required to use this report. The report runs completely within the internet browser using JavaScript. Most modern browsers automatically activate JavaScript; however, it can be turned off based on the security settings of the computer. For more information on activating JavaScript, refer to the browser’s help section or click here for help on Windows computers and click here for help on Apple computers.

Visualization Walkthrough

The Traffic Dashboard is an interactive data visualization. This interactivity allows users to filter the information based on the questions they are hoping to answer with this dataset. An overview of the pre-built filters is included below.

Map Interface
You can use the navigation tools in the dual map display to zoom in and out and navigate to look at more detailed areas of the city. Hove anywhere in the map view and the navigation buttons will appear in the top right corner of the maps window.

Click on the plus or minus buttons to zoom in or out (or use your mouse wheel)

Click on the Home button to return to the default map view

Click on the side arrow to see more options such as pan, zoom and selection

Date Filter

The Date Filter is the primary selection tool for the date range. The dropdown filter defaults to the most recent month of data that is available and has a rolling 3 years of data available. To change the months in view, hit the down arrow to the right of “(Multiple values)” and select the check boxes next to the corresponding months/years you would like to view. There is no limit to the number of months, however the map views get crowded past 3 months of data.

Click the "Apply" button at the bottom of the filter to save your selections. All visuals will update accordingly, with the text box next to Date Filter displaying the selected date range.

Incident Frequency

The Incident Frequency Filter lets the user look at where incidents of reported calls or enforcement actions have a lower or higher frequency. The dropdown filter defaults to show all incidents in the map for the date range selected.

Highlight Locations and Select Categories
In the Legend and Chart sections of the dashboard, the legend labels and chart categories can be clicked on to highlight locations in the map and show the count of reported calls or enforcement actions. For example, the user can click the Traffic Control Devices category in the Violations chart to see where drivers are being ticketed for that type of violation. Click the selected label or chart element again to deselect it.

When selecting an item from the Call Categories or Violation Categories chart, chart and map elements will not display for the non-selected data type (e.g. reported calls data will not display when an enforcement action category is selected because it does not share those data attributes).

Download Open Data Tab 

The Portland Police Bureau is a proud member of the Police Data Initiative. Open data provides an opportunity to improve the relationship between the community and the PPB by increasing transparency, building community trust and strengthening accountability.

The Download Open Data tab of this report was custom-built to meet the Bureau's open data goals. To download a copy of the data for custom analyses and presentation, follow these steps:

1. Click on the Download Open Data tab at the top of the dashboard.
2. Use the optional filters to modify the dataset based on desired parameters.
3. Click on the "Download" button on the toolbar (see "Toolbar" section below) in the lower-right corner of the dashboard.
4. Click "Data" in the pop-up box.
5. A new window will appear that shows only the first 200 rows of data. Click on the blue hyperlink that says "Download all rows as a text file".
6. Once downloaded, the file can be imported or opened in Microsoft Excel or other data programs.

TIP: If address information is not required for the desired analysis, click "Crosstab" instead of "Data" after selecting download. This removes a few steps, but still preserves any selected filters.

Toolbar 

The toolbar, located at the bottom of the visualization, contains several buttons that assist in the analysis of the data.

The “Undo” and “Redo” buttons (left and right arrows) become active when the above filters are applied to the report. They operate just like the Undo and Redo buttons in other programs such as Microsoft Word.

The “Reset” button (left arrow with bar) reverts all filters back to their original setting when you first visited the page. This is a great way to start with a “clean slate” after clicking several filters.

The “Download” button (down arrow contained in rectangular box) allows users to save a static version of the visualization. This option is great for printing out copies of the map to share at meetings or to include in a presentation.

“Get the App” takes you to a download page to acquire a Free Trial of Tableau Desktop. This is not necessary, or recommended, to fully analyze and view the report.

“PDF” allows users to export the report, with all of the filters you set, as a PDF. The options dialogue allows custom scaling and paper size options. When choosing to export as PDF, make sure to keep the layout as portrait and content as “this dashboard.” 

“Image” creates a .png file of the report with all of the selected filters.

Tableau is the name of the software used to create this report visualization.