The IMF Data Mapper 3.0 provides users with visual mapping and charting options for use with selected International Monetary Fund (IMF) data products. Maps and charts can be created and modified on-the-fly as users select criteria.
The current version of this online product contains selected economic indicator series data from seven major IMF statistical databases: World Economic Outlook; Balance of Payments; AFR Regional Economic Outlook; International Financial Statistics; Historical Public Debt Database; Public Finances in Modern History; and Financial Access Survey. Subject coverage includes GDP, inflation, population counts, unemployment figures, government finances, exports and imports, reserve assets, national accounts, financial sector, debt and debt service, consumer prices, and industrial production. Time series coverage ranges broadly depending on the source from 1800 in the case of the Public Finances database to limited series beginning 2005 from the Balance of Payments database. Several series from the World Economic Outlook contain projection figures to 2018. Updating of figures varies by database.
The display screen is arranged in major quadrants which vary depending on whether users select the Map Chart option or the Bubble Chart option. Users begin by choosing one of the seven datasets and then selecting a subject from within the chosen dataset. Visual representation of the data from the selected subject is immediately displayed onscreen. The Map Chart window contains four quadrants which include a map legend in the upper left quadrant, a selection menu of items to be added to the map in the lower left quadrant, the map in the upper right and options for a line or bar chart in the lower right quadrant. A menu bar at the bottom of the display quadrants offers context-specific control options such as presets, help, full screen display, exporting and more settings (related to display of outliers in the line or bar chart), as well as visual controls such as playing an animated timeline of the selected data results, and splitting the map/chart visuals or singular map or chart display.
The Bubble Chart option contains three quadrants. A reference map is displayed in the upper left quadrant. The item selection remains in the lower left quadrant and the bubble chart is displayed in a single right quadrant. Display options to select country region or analytical group are available in both the reference map and the bubble chart quadrants. Placing the mouse over a bubble in the chart results in a display of the x and y axis and corresponding location on the reference map. The linear and logarithmic displays in the Bubble Chart require more than a cursory knowledge of statistics to fully understand and articulate the results.
For both chart options, below the lower menu bar there are a series of links to products related to the selected dataset. These include current reports, links to the full database, as well as information on methodology. The help feature contains brief easy to understand explanations augmented with associated images.
This is very much a product which users will play with to gain familiarity due to its visual appeal. All selections are managed through single clicks of the mouse. Click once to add an item or option and click again to remove. All display quadrants are context-specific. Relevant options are available at all times while non-relevant options are either greyed out or do not appear. When adding items to a chart, visual display controls appear beside each item, for example, changes can be made to the fill area, list of countries within an area, explode region/group as well as colour selection for mapping and charting. Again, only options available for the specific item will be available. A zoom feature is available for the map, line and bar charts. In the case of the map display, a simple mouse click on a country automatically activates the zoom feature. Highlighting a specific date on the line or bar chart results in a corresponding change in the map display. Both maps and charts offer labels which are displayed by placing the mouse over the year or country.
Results can be exported in a variety of ways. Underlying data can be exported in.xls format with a choice of data for the selected indicator or displayed data. Visual results for export in image file.png format include displayed map (with selected year), line chart, bar chart or bubble chart. An associated URL can also be copied and pasted.
The IMF Data Mapper has the potential to be a very popular tool used widely in the public, academic and commercial sectors. Testing over time with a variety of computers and networks produced consistent instantaneous results. It provides highly visual outputs of major economic indicators which can be easily exported into documents. The exported image includes a title, legend and a broad source statement. For academic purposes, a more detailed source citation would be useful. The success of this product will be enhanced with the addition of more series data in future versions.
