Region geo data can contain useful categorical and numeric data for network planning. For instance, here is a section of polygon data from the US Census imported into Overture using the US Data Module

Each polygon has multiple data columns associated with it, but this example uses the TotalPops column, which is an estimate of the residential population contained within the polygon.

Network performance simulation in Overture uses raster, or bin-based, data. For each bin, statistics such as signal strength and cover probability are calculated. To include the census data in statistics, they must also be rasterized (also known as rendering). This is done dynamically using a Density From Regions component.

After adding a new density component of type Density From Regions, the properties of the component can be seen here:

The Selected Column property is set to point at the TotalPops column in this instance. The resulting map can be seen below.

The Analysis Region resolution, boundary, and projection dictates the rendering.

The census data TotalPops column contains the total number of people in each polygon, therefore this data must be spread throughout the whole polygon area to create a density value. Note that this is controlled by the Spread Data property.

Each density value is calculated as the value in the polygon (from the TotalPops column in this example) divided by the polygon area as calculated using the Havesine formula.