A few weeks ago, when we announced the release of our redesigned website and a new dashboard, we promised we’ll be back with more very soon. This time, we updated our mapping interface for a more intuitive and organized experience. Read on to find out about the changes.

Redesigned Map Header

The very first thing you will notice is the reorganized map header. We wanted the map to take center stage, so we reorganized the full-length bar at the top, making it smaller and grouping map title, data selection, more menu, geography level, and visualization type in the box on the left-hand side, and we also renamed the masking tool to Filtering to keep everything streamlined.

Improved Change Data Menu

Because the availability of data varies a great deal over time, our updated interface will now only show the available categories in the Featured tab (formerly known as Browse by Category). To help you find your way around, we listed all the unavailable categories right below the category picker and added the years in which each category is available for your reference.

If you’re interested in a particular survey, you can browse data by survey in the All data tab. Not much has changed here – simply select the survey, dataset, and table to browse all available data.

We placed the Saved variables tab right in the Change data menu for easier access and more intuitive selection. When viewing variables, save them in the Saved variables and effortlessly switch between the variables.

Legend – Where It Belongs

In our previous version, the legend menu was placed in the header at the top of the map. We took your suggestions and made the legend into a separate component that is now located in the bottom left corner. Bottom left, it turns out, is much more intuitive. Also, now, you can switch between different legend modes: minimized, maximized, detailed, and simplified.

Reorganized Annotation and Upload Sidebar

We streamlined the more menu and moved it to the Change data section. You can now access both annotations and upload features straight from the more menu, and when annotating your map, you can enable annotation legend right in the sidebar. We also combined the annotation legend with the map legend so your readers can find everything in one place.

Try it out!

You can test the beta maps right from the dashboard. Head over to the Maps page and click Try beta version next to any of the Social Explorer maps.

We’d love to hear your thoughts! Use the Feedback option at the top of the map, or send all your suggestions, comments, and questions to feedback@socialexplorer.com.