Here are some tips for how to get the most out of the UHERO-Kaua'i Interactive Database, part of the UHERO Economic Information System (EIS).
There are two ways to view data in the EIS system. The "Graphs" view displays a time-series graph of a single data series when you select it from a list. You can graph two series at once by holding the control key while clicking on series in the selector window.
The second way to view data is by selecting one of the EIS data tables. In the "Tables" view, you can change the frequency, time period and location using selectors at the bottom of the page. Click on a row label to see a quick graph for that series.
A powerful feature of the EIS Tables view is the ability to view data in more than one frequency, and to easily change frequency on the fly. Which frequencies are available will depend on how the raw data is reported by the original source agency. For example, DBEDT reports most visitor data on a monthly basis, so in the EIS you can display the Visitor Industry Summary table in monthly form, but the system will also compute quarterly and annual versions of the table. Just use the selector at the bottom of the table page.
When high-frequency data is displayed, the system also reports year-to-date running totals and growth rates, useful for getting a summary of performance since the beginning of the year. The reported year-to-date percentage changes represent rates of growth compared with the same period in the previous year.
In the Tables view, you can download displayed data as an Excel (.XLS) spreadsheet for your own data analysis. You get exactly what's displayed, so you can change the frequency and download the data in more than another frequency if you like.
Hint: To get a long history of data for your table or graph, set the beginning date back as far as you like. You would have trouble printing the resulting table (!) but you still download it as an Excel file.
Remember that EIS data tables and graphs are copyright UHERO and are intended for your internal use only.
The EIS system supports a "pretty" printer-ready table, suitable for circulation to colleagues. Just click on "Printer Friendly Version" on the menu bar and and then the "Print" button to direct output to your printer.
UHERO also provides an Adobe Acrobat (.pdf) file that includes the most recent annual versions of all tables in the system. See the "Download Data Book" link in the page banner.
For information on the data source for a series, in Graph view click on the "Data Source" link underneath the graph. In many cases an active link to the source web site is provided as well.
You can compare a single Kaua'i series to data for another Hawaii location. In the Graph view, just choose a second location using the "Compare To" drop-down selector. (You must be viewing a level or percent change Chart Type in order to use this feature.) Note that not all data series are available for all locations.