Publishing Data

Learn how to publish your verified order results to the public CAT Grand Database, making them available to other users and the public.

What is Publishing?

Publishing makes your order results available in the public CAT Grand Database. Once published:

  • Your data becomes publicly accessible
  • Other users can view and use your data
  • Your data contributes to regional and national emissions databases
  • Published data supports transparency in transportation planning

Prerequisites: Verification

Before you can publish, you must be verified for the geographic area (county) of the order you want to publish.

What is Verification?

Verification confirms that you represent a government or educational institution authorized to publish public data for a specific county. This ensures data quality and accountability.

Getting Verified

  1. Go to your Account page
  2. Scroll to the "Verification" section
  3. Enter:
    • Geoid (FIPS Code): The 5-digit FIPS code for the county (e.g., 36109)
    • Email: Your work email (must be .gov or .edu domain)
  4. Click "Submit Verification"
  5. Wait for approval (typically 1-2 business days)

Important: Your email must have a .gov or .edu domain. This ensures only government and educational institutions can publish public data.

Checking Your Verified Areas

On your Account page, the "Verified Areas" section shows:

  • A table of all counties for which you are verified
  • County name and state
  • Verification status

You can only publish orders for counties where you are verified.

For more details, see Account Management.

Publishing an Order

Step 1: Verify Eligibility

Before publishing, ensure:

  1. ✅ You are verified for the order's county (geoid)
  2. ✅ The order status is "Ready" (processing complete)
  3. ✅ You want to make this data publicly available

Step 2: Select Order(s)

  1. Go to "View Orders" in the sidebar
  2. Find the order(s) you want to publish
  3. Select the order(s) by clicking the checkboxes on the left
  4. You can select multiple orders if they're all for verified counties

Step 3: Click Publish

  1. Click the "PUBLISH" button
  2. A confirmation modal will appear
  3. Review the warning message:
    • Publishing is permanent and cannot be undone
    • Data will be publicly available
    • Data will appear in CAT Grand Database within 5-10 minutes

Step 4: Confirm Publication

  1. Click "CONFIRM PUBLISH" in the modal
  2. The system will process your request
  3. You'll see a success message if publication succeeds
  4. If you're not verified for a county, you'll see an error message

Step 5: Verify Publication

After publishing:

  1. Wait 5-10 minutes for data to appear in the public database
  2. Your order status will update to show it's been published
  3. Other users can now access your data through:
    • Visualizer (public data sources)
    • Data Hub (public database queries)
    • Reporter (public data in reports)

What Happens After Publishing?

Data Availability

  • Public Access: Your data is now publicly available
  • CAT Grand Database: Data appears in the public database
  • Other Users: Can view and use your data in their analyses
  • Visualizations: Your data can be included in public visualizations
  • Reports: Your data can be included in reports generated by other users

Data Format

Published data includes:

  • All emissions by pollutant
  • Vehicle miles traveled (VMT)
  • Vehicle counts
  • Breakdowns by vehicle type, fuel type, road type, etc.
  • Geographic information (county, state, FIPS code)
  • Year modeled

Data Updates

  • Published data is permanent and cannot be modified or deleted
  • If you need to correct data, you'll need to create a new order and publish it
  • The system maintains a record of all published data

Publishing Multiple Orders

You can publish multiple orders at once:

  1. Select multiple orders in the View Orders table
  2. Click "PUBLISH"
  3. Confirm publication
  4. Each order will be published individually
  5. Orders for counties where you're not verified will show an error

Note: Make sure all selected orders are for counties where you are verified. If any order is for an unverified county, that specific order will fail to publish.

Verification Requirements by Order

Each order must meet these requirements to publish:

  1. Geographic Verification: You must be verified for the order's county (geoid)
  2. Order Status: Order must be "Ready" (not "Processing" or "Error")
  3. Account Status: Your account must be active

If any requirement isn't met, you'll see an error message explaining why publication failed.

Tips for Publishing

  1. Verify Early: Request verification for counties you plan to publish before creating orders
  2. Review Data First: Use Visualizer to review your data before publishing
  3. Double-Check Verification: Confirm you're verified for the county before attempting to publish
  4. Understand Permanence: Remember that publishing is permanent - make sure data is accurate
  5. Coordinate with Team: If working with a team, coordinate who will publish to avoid duplicates

Common Scenarios

Scenario 1: Publishing Your First Order

  1. Create and verify your order is "Ready"
  2. Check that you're verified for the county (Account page)
  3. If not verified, request verification and wait for approval
  4. Once verified, select order and click PUBLISH
  5. Confirm and wait 5-10 minutes for data to appear publicly

Scenario 2: Publishing Multiple Counties

  1. Request verification for all counties you plan to publish
  2. Wait for all verifications to be approved
  3. Create orders for all counties
  4. Once all orders are ready, select them all
  5. Click PUBLISH and confirm
  6. All orders will be published (assuming you're verified for all)

Scenario 3: Error - Not Verified

If you see "Not verified for geoid X":

  1. Go to Account page
  2. Check your verified areas
  3. If county is missing, request verification
  4. Wait for approval (1-2 business days)
  5. Then try publishing again

Troubleshooting

"Not Verified" Error

Problem: You see an error saying you're not verified for the geoid.

Solution:

  1. Go to Account page
  2. Check "Verified Areas" section
  3. If county is missing, submit a verification request
  4. Wait for approval before trying to publish again

Order Status Not "Ready"

Problem: You can't publish because order status isn't "Ready".

Solution:

  1. Wait for order to finish processing (typically 5-10 minutes)
  2. Refresh the View Orders page
  3. Once status shows "Ready", you can publish

Publication Failed

Problem: Publication confirmation shows an error.

Solution:

  1. Check the error message for details
  2. Verify you're logged into the correct account
  3. Confirm order is for a verified county
  4. Check that order status is "Ready"
  5. Contact support if problem persists

Best Practices

  1. Verify Before Creating Orders: Request verification for counties you'll use before creating orders
  2. Review Before Publishing: Always review your data in Visualizer before publishing
  3. Coordinate Publishing: If multiple people can publish, coordinate to avoid duplicates
  4. Maintain Accuracy: Ensure data is accurate before publishing (it's permanent)
  5. Document Your Data: Consider documenting any special circumstances or custom inputs used

Next Steps

After publishing:

  1. ✅ Your data is now publicly available
  2. 📊 Other users can access it through Visualizer and Data Hub
  3. 📄 Your data can be included in reports
  4. 🔄 Consider creating and publishing additional orders for other counties/years

Need to get verified? See Account Management for how to request verification.