February 7, 2020, by Erik Larson

New Client Data Site - Big Sky EDA

Billings, Montana-based EDO uses eIMPACT to publish an interactive version of its annual Economic Pulse report.


We were thrilled to start working with the folks at the Big Sky Economic Development Authority to help them produce the next generation of their flagship Economic Pulse report. As data experts themselves, the Big Sky EDA pushed us to develop a range of datasets and visualizations perhaps beyond any client yet :)

The Economic Pulse interactive report compares both snapshot and trend-line data for 10 MSAs within a 500-mile radius from Billings, MT. The data draw from numerous sources and paint a broad picture of the economic region, yet are curated in a thoughtful way that inform without overwhelming.

Our role was purely in the execution and design of the report – all credit of authorship goes to the team at Big Sky EDA. Our hats off to you!

Click the image below to check out the Economic Pulse site for yourself!




A Few Individual Data Visualizations from the Report


Dot plots are a great way to convey multiple regions in one stacked view. The simplicity of the chart and minimal use of color allow the eye to interpret the data quickly:


Symbol maps let you put data with a geographical dimension into a format the is easy to explore and draw inferences. This map of graduate migration (in this case from Billings area institutions) is a popular one these days at eIMPACT:



Raise your hand if you like stacked bar charts?! Sorry, it is late in the day here and we gotta have a little fun doing what we love :)


We hope you've enjoyed this example from Big Sky!


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