Place Forecast Update #16: Plain-language explainers for every concept

We've updated Place Forecast with explainers: a built-in library of plain-language definitions for every concept, dataset, and feature in our app.

A precise meaning for every term

Forecasts are full of terms that mean different things to different people. Estimated Resident Population, cohort-component method, control-adjusted dataset, net migration, demo forecast. Each of these has a precise meaning in Place Forecast, and we've now documented them all. Over 100 explainers, covering features, demographic concepts, and the ideas that sit between them.

(Explainer panel open on a forecast page)

Explainers appear where you need them

Every forecast page now has an Explainer button. Click it and the full definition appears in a section bar on the page, without leaving your spot.

(Click the button to open the explainer)

Every important term inside an explainer links to its own explainer. Hover a dotted word for a preview; click through or double-click the word itself to open the full entry. If you can navigate Wikipedia, you can navigate the explainers.

(Hover over a dotted link to show more information)

At the bottom of the panel, a list of related data pages lets you jump from a concept straight to the page that shows it in your numbers.

Browse the whole library

The explainer library lists every explainer, grouped by type and searchable by name, abbreviation, or alias. Type "ERP" and you'll land on Estimated Resident Population without having to remember the full name.

(The explainer library)

Yes, we've clocked the irony of two blokes publishing a library of explainers. Mansplaining, systematised.

Explore how concepts connect

Admittedly, this one's for the data nerds. The explainer explorer renders the whole library as an interactive graph. Each node is an explainer; each edge links them. Click a node to read it; the graph stays in view so you can see what connects to what.

(The explainer explorer)

A note on readability

An explainer is only worth writing if people actually read it. The easier it is to read, the more people benefit from it. So we write every explainer to the Australian Government Style Manual's readability standard: grade 7 reading level.

Want to see it in action? Reply to this email to book a walkthrough.

We’ve been looking forward to sharing this one.

In March, we updated all 16 client forecasts twice in under 15 hours. Once for the latest ABS building approvals and completion data, and once for the latest regional population estimates. At 13 hours and 14.9 hours respectively, they were the fastest full-platform updates we’ve delivered.

For us, that is a good sign that as Place Forecast grows, it is becoming faster, not slower.

Andrew and Bernd from Place Info

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