Census block maps in SAS

Robert Allison
Robert Allison|March 14, 2013

I’ve heard many customers ask “Can SAS do/use/handle census block maps?” My answer was “of course!” … but I never really had any examples to show/prove that.  Well, now I do! :) First, you need to locate & download the shape files for the census blocks you’re interested in plotting.  For [...]

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SAS analysis of the #1 most popular baby names

Robert Allison
Robert Allison|February 22, 2013

I’m sure that most of you have seen the really cool interactive Baby Name Voyager, right?  If not, go have a look and try it out (be sure to plug in your name, and the names in your family, and so on). That’s a pretty cool application!  … But it made [...]

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An easy way to find variables in common to data sets

Andy Ravenna
Andy Ravenna|January 30, 2013

Over the holidays I was having a discussion with my cat, Ms. Trixie Lou. A question that often arises during the first programming class is the following: how do I find the variables that are in common to these two or three data sets? As it turns out, Ms. Trixie [...]

Why SAS skills are more in demand than ever before

Charu Shankar
Charu Shankar|August 30, 2012

Wondering why technology is such a big deal and why working with SAS will be in demand forever? The great blackout of Toronto in 2003 proved that so well. We could barely survive without electricity for a whole day. While breakdowns make us acutely aware of our dependence, technology also [...]

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Learn how to use the CASE function in SAS Information Map Studio

Brooke Fortson
Brooke Fortson|August 24, 2012

There are some situations where you need to create a new data item based on different conditions. To do this, you need to use the CASE statement available in the Expression Editor window.  Watch SAS Instructor, Lynn Matthews, give a step-by-step tutorial.   You can learn about this topic and more [...]

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Jedi SAS Tricks: Reset SAS System Options

Mark Jordan
Mark Jordan|August 14, 2012

One of my students emailed me, asking how to easily reset SAS system options. He was looking for a one-liner solution, just like you get with graphic options: GOPTIONS RESET; While there isn’t a RESET keyword for the OPTIONS statement, you can save your options settings before making changes using [...]

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Finding patterns in big data with SAS/GRAPH

Robert Allison
Robert Allison|July 27, 2012

When working with “big data” you usually have too many points to view in a plot, and end up subsetting or summarizing the data. But now, in SAS 9.3, you have an alternative! For example, the following scatter plot of 10,000+ points is just a visual “blob”: But using a new [...]

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Jedi SAS Tricks: FUNC(y) Formats

Mark Jordan
Mark Jordan|May 10, 2012

In the previous episode, we built our own custom SAS function – a masterful trick indeed. Gordon Keener, a developer here at SAS, responded exuberantly “You think that’s cool? – try THIS!” and proceeded to demonstrate prodigious powers with the SAS by using a custom function in a custom informat [...]

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Jedi SAS Tricks – Roll Your Own Function

Mark Jordan
Mark Jordan|May 3, 2012

A SAS user (who lives in the the US) emailed me a question about SAS functions. He was reading UTC (Coordinated Universal Time) datetime values from server logs, and to make future calculations and comparisons easier, he wanted to transform the value to local datetime.  The INTNX() function worked great, but [...]

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Debug SAS problems; don't repair drywall

Susan Farmer
Susan Farmer|April 19, 2012

Several years ago, my husband and I were remodeling our first house together.  We decided we wanted to have cable television upstairs.  Being young, foolish and lacking in disposable income, we decided to do it ourselves.  My husband said he would run the cable through the attic and drop it [...]

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