Creating Filter Sets

Within the data Visualization tool, there are several ways to filter data. Adding or creating your own filter set allows you to choose which  data are used in visualizations or analyzes. A filter set is a subset of a project’s data that any user can create and save. Filter sets are then used in  “data displays,” which are maps, graphs, and summary calculations.

Once you create a New visualization (or if you are editing a visualization created by someone else), you will see a menu on the left-hand side of the screen with an option to add a new filter set. When working in the visualization space, users can create many filter sets to facilitate different explorations  of the data.

When creating filter sets, you can filter by organization to select one or more organizations and only see data uploaded by individuals from those organizations.

You can either use one of the Quick filter set options (All observations, My observations or Recent observations), or you can create your own filter set by clicking Make my own filter set. 

Most projects only include the main data sources to which participants add data. But some projects--notably the Chesapeake Bay Water Quality project--includes additional data sets from NOAA and other sources that you can select and filter.

With the default data source selected (or a new one you have selected in the Chesapeake Bay Water Quality project), you can add filters (multiple filters can be combined). The types of filters you can apply to the data are:

Area - Use this to define a geographic area by drawing a circle.  Note that some projects include additional options for selecting states, counties, or other areas. For more on this, see the Filter Data by Geographic Area article.
Date - Use this filter to see only data uploaded during a particular date range. Select a starting date, ending date, or both. If the end data is left empty the filter will always show the data uploaded from the starting date to the present.
DateTime - When a project uses DateTime fields aside from the basic date field, you can use both date and time  to set the time period you would like to include in the filter set.
Group - Use this option to select one or more groups and generate a filtered set of data that you can apply to other data displays. For example (shown here), chapters in FrogWatch can easily create a filter set that includes all of their chapter’s data for their chapter and then make savable, shareable data visualizations using that filter set. The filter set will update over time with new data added to that group/chapter.
Number  - Use this filter to define a minimum and/or maximum value for the data that is shown on a map. This filter may only be used for data that is numeric.
Organization - Use the filter by organization function to select one or more organizations and only see data uploaded by individuals from those organizations.
Station - Use the filter by station function to select data from one or more locations.
Time - When projects collect data related to time, use this filter to specify a range of times that you would like to focus on when visualizing data.
Value - Use this filter to specify one or more values to include in the filter set. These may be values that are entered via a set list or values that are entered in an open text field. In addition to selecting multiple values, you can also change "Any of these values" to "Any values except" to exclude unneeded data.	Using an open text field: Multiple values: Excluding values:

Each time you add a filter, the map and table will update, showing you the results of the filtering. Use the toggle button above the map to switch between table and map view.

                            

If you add more than one filter, a dropdown menu will appear with the options All selected values or Any selected values. All selected values will show you data that satisfy all of the added filters - e.g., data will appear on the map if they match both the date range AND area you have specified. Any selected values will show you data that satisfy at least one of the added filters - e.g., data will appear on the map if they match the date range OR area you have specified.

We recommend naming a filter set before you save it. Filter sets can then be visualized in maps and graphs by applying them to one or more data displays. Filter sets can be edited at any time, but they can only be deleted if they are not currently connected to a data display.