Importing Data from BAO to Desktop

AlexSmith2 · ‎08-29-2013

So it has been a while since I have used BA/BAO in earnest. I remember back in the day all the data was on the BA jump drive. Load the data onto your box and make all the custom maps you see fit.

Now that the world has progressed much of the data I "used" is only available via BAO (e.g. Education Attainment, Labor Force, etc.). I have signed on to the new version of BAO and installed the trial version of the "BAO Add-in". Now I have to "download report to boundary layer" to get the data onto my box. For instance I "downloaded" ESRI US Data Set: ACS Population Summary to my Maricopa County layer and it worked just fine. However, the data in that level of geography is functionally useless for any form of "neighborhood" or site analysis. So I made a new feature class for Maricopa County with the data from esri_bg.bds. This feature class had all of the data and non-aliased headers. Then I deleted everything expect the NAME and ID fields hoping to get the "downloaded" report to "join" with my boundary layer. However, I get an error:

Error:
<HTML><HEAD>
<TITLE>Network Error</TITLE>
</HEAD>

[SIZE=3][SIZE=1]Request URL:
http://baoapi.esri.com/rest/report/SummaryReports

Request Post Data:
Token=svtZcYqXwko6VUdOzrZgNhPJIKA459Dz5yYjYF2xqvc.&Boundaries={"RecordSet":{"geometryType":"esriGeometryPolygon","spatialReference":{"wkid":4326},"features":[{"geometry":{"rings":[[[-113.333439024804,33.8301959976668],[-113.333712419727,33.8186889180037]

I used the ID field for the "Area ID Field: in the Add-in. However, I have no idea what the field names are for the BAO data. All I want is the BAO data on my box. I don't need a report. Please help.

It seems odd that ESRI would make me do all this extra work and get the associated headache. Why not just charge me more for the "old school" jump drive an leave me and the data in peace. Again, please help me find a way to get the data on my desktop.

Better yet, why not have a "download shapefile" option on the new BAO? I hope there is and I have missed it?

Thanks

AlexSmith2 · ‎09-05-2013

I think I found what I need. If I use the "Business Analyst Window" and click on the "Color-Coded Maps" toolbar, I have the option of getting the data on my desktop.

Jason_RobinsonRobinson · ‎09-06-2013

Alex,

The labor force/educational attainment variables/data are only meant for mapping purposes due to that they are not available at the block group level (only census tracts and large geographies). Unfortunately they do appear in products like the BAO reports add-in and in Business Analyst Desktop that they can be used like a standard variable which will cause the operation to fail.

On the better news front when the 2013 ACS dataset is released later this fall labor force/education attainment variables will be available at all geographies and will be integrated into various reports and in tools like create custom comparison reports in BAO or in the Append Data tool in Business Analyst desktop.

Regards,
Jason R.