PLACES Overview

The PLACES Project is a collaboration between CDC’s Division of Population Health, the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, and the CDC Foundation. The purpose of the PLACES Project is to provide county-, place-, census tract- and ZCTA-level data, obtained using small area estimation methods, for 27 chronic disease measures for the entire United States. This system complements existing surveillance data by providing estimates necessary to understand the health issues affecting the residents of local areas of all sizes and regardless of urban or rural status; develop and implement effective and targeted prevention activities; identify health problems; and establish key health objectives.

This overview briefly examines sections of the PLACES homepage such as, specific buttons and icons, the interactive map, access to a data table to compare counties, access to a data portal, a notice to data users, and use of the site navigation buttons to browse through the information offered on the site.

The homepage of the PLACES site offers several ways to learn more about the history and uses of the PLACES interactive data.

• At the top section of the page under the PLACES banner is a “Learn more about PLACES” button that when clicked goes to the About the Project page. Click this button if you’d like more background information on the PLACES Project.

• Under the introductory text on the page are some icons you may find helpful.
• Icons on the left:
  • Click the  Question Sign (question icon) icon to go to the PLACES FAQs section.
  • Click the Hands (hands helping icon) icon to go to the PLACES Help section.
  • Click the Feedback (ballot check icon) icon to go to the PLACES Contact Us and Give Feedback page.
• Icons on the right:
  • Click the Facebook (fb icon), Twitter (twitter icon), or LinkedIn (linkedin icon) icons to use these social media platforms.
  • Click on the syndication (syndication icon) icon to request syndication of the homepage.

The interactive map offers many ways to interact with the PLACES data. Click on individual categories and measures within categories to see data based on location. Use the [+] icon to zoom in to the ZCTA level or the [-] icon to zoom out to the county level. The Explore PLACES Interactive map page in this Help section provides a more in-depth look at some of the many ways to interact with the data.

This section of the PLACES homepage offers:

• Access to the Compare Counties Report where you can compare up to three counties for all measures.

• Access to the PLACES Data Portal for downloading the data by county, place, census tract or ZCTA; creating a custom report; customizing visualization; and more.

• Notice to Data Users with links to new and important information about the data.