Registration Open
Registration Open
28 February | 18:00
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Welcome to the Onyx Data March 2025 Challenge!
Feb 28 - Mar 28, 2025 | EDT
Explore key insights from Washington, D.C.'s crime data, uncovering patterns, hotspots, and trends in reported incidents.
Timeline
Workshop | Workshop: Practical Tips for Visualizing Crime Data
Workshop | Workshop: Practical Tips for Visualizing Crime Data
11 March | 07:00
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Webinar | Crime Data Analysis: Top 5 Power BI Reports & Expert Insights
Webinar | Crime Data Analysis: Top 5 Power BI Reports & Expert Insights
28 March | 09:00
28 February - 24 March
Submitted Reports
About challenge
How to participate
The Brief
Judging criteria
Timeline
Dataset
Past challenges
Winner of the challenge
All Submissions
About ZoomCharts Mini Challenge
ZoomCharts Mini Challenge is part of the global DataDNA – Dataset Challenge by Onyx Data, which unites 25K+ data enthusiasts worldwide, ranging from beginners to seasoned professionals, including Microsoft MVPs. Read more about the DataDNA challenge on the Onyx Data website. Join the community on LinkedIn
The ZoomCharts Mini Challenge provides a platform for a growing community to learn how to build PRO reports, aiding business users to explore data quickly and intuitively.
- Free License: All participants receive a free ZoomCharts Developer License that gives access to the full Drill Down PRO visuals library. License will remain active for 1 year after the challenge.
- Learn from Experienced Professionals: As part of the challenge, we host live workshops on report building and visualizing the challenge’s dataset in Power BI. Challenge participants can also book an individual consultation with an experienced Power BI mentor to ask questions and get personalized tips.
- Tailored Feedback: Every challenge submission will receive personalized feedback, giving participants the chance to hone their skills and improve their reports.
Prizes
The best report’s creator will receive a $300 Amazon gift card from ZoomCharts. The Top 5 submissions and the winner will be announced on March 28th.
Webinar recordings
How to participate?
1. Register for the challenge:
- Download the DataDNA Challenge dataset either on this Challenge page or from Onyx Data website.
- Register for DataDNA ZoomCharts Mini Challenge.
- Activate your free Drill Down Visuals Developer License for Power BI. Read license setup instructions.
2. Build your report in Power BI:
- Set up an account in Power BI using the assigned license details (if you have participated in ZoomCharts Challenges in the past, you can use the same account you set up before).
- Use the account to access the full library of custom ZoomCharts Drill Down visuals.
- Use the dataset to build a Power BI report including at least 2 ZoomCharts Drill Down Visuals in one report page.
3. Improve your report and learn new skills:
- To learn more about applying ZoomCharts visuals in your reports, participate in the challenge workshop.
- If you have any questions or need advice, you can book a free individual consultation.
- Check out the submissions from past challenges for inspiration.
4. Submit your challenge entry:
- Submit your report in .pbix format for validation.
- If your submission doesn’t match the challenge criteria, you will be notified by email indicating the reason. Don't worry if this happens! You can fix the issue and resubmit your report.
- Together with validation confirmation you will receive a publish to web link that you can use to add the report to your portfolio or publicly share online.
- All validated entries will receive personalized feedback from the evaluation team. You can use this feedback to revise your report and resubmit it before the deadline. Feel free to resubmit your entry as many times as necessary before the deadline.
5. Finalize your participation to compete for the prize:
- Post the final version of your submission as a single image on your LinkedIn profile, including the tags @ZoomCharts and @OnyxData, as well as the hashtags #dataDNA and #builtwithzoomcharts.
- After posting the report on LinkedIn, please complete this form.
- Follow ZoomCharts on LinkedIn
- Follow Onyx Data on LinkedIn
- All participants of ZoomCharts Mini Challenge who have filled in the form are also valid to compete in the main Onyx Data DataDNA challenge for a chance to win additional prizes. Read more here.
6. Attend challenge closing webinar to hear the results:
- The submissions are evaluated by ZoomCharts team (see "Judging criteria" for more info). The submissions of Top 5 ZoomCharts Mini Challenge finalists are analyzed live during the challenge closing webinar to share the best practices and learning opportunities with the community.
- The author of the best report is rewarded with a $300 Amazon gift card from ZoomCharts.
Context for a Data Visualization Challenge
Washington, D.C. has long focused on crime prevention and community safety. This dataset provides detailed insights into crime patterns, allowing analysts to explore crime frequency, geographical hotspots, trends over time, and crime severity. Participants in this challenge will leverage Power BI or other BI tools to visualize crime trends and derive actionable insights for law enforcement, policymakers, and the general public.
Your challenge is to create an interactive dashboard that helps answer key questions such as:
- What are the most common crimes committed in each district?
- How does crime vary by time of day and location?
- Are there any noticeable trends in violent vs. property crimes?
- Which neighbourhoods have the highest crime rates, and what types of crimes are most prevalent?
- What is the impact of different crime methods (e.g., firearm-related incidents)?
Suggested Key Performance Indicators (KPIs)
To make sense of the data, participants should consider the following KPIs:
- Total Crimes Reported – Number of crimes committed in a given time period.
- Crimes by Time of Day – Distribution of crimes by shift (Midnight, Day, Evening).
- Top 5 Crime Types – Most frequently occurring offenses.
- Crime Severity Index – Weighting crimes based on UCR ranking to assess overall risk.
- Crime by Neighbourhood – Number of reported crimes per neighbourhood cluster.
- Hotspot Analysis – Geographical visualization of crime density.
- Weapon-Related Crimes – Percentage of crimes involving firearms.
- Time to Resolution – Average duration from crime occurrence to report filing.
- Trends Over Time – Year-over-year or month-over-month crime trends.
- Crime Rate by Police District – Total crimes per district to assess law enforcement efficiency.
Data Dictionary
The dataset contains records of crimes reported in Washington, D.C., including details such as the time, location, offense type, and method. Below are the key fields and their descriptions:
SHIFT - Time of day when the crime occurred (Midnight, Day, Evening).
BLOCK - Street block where the incident was reported.
LONGITUDE - Longitude coordinate of the crime location.
LATITUDE - Latitude coordinate of the crime location.
START_DATE - Date and time the crime occurred.
END_DATE - Date and time when the incident was closed or resolved.
NEIGHBORHOOD_CLUSTER - Cluster ID representing the neighbourhood where the crime occurred.
PSA - Police Service Area responsible for the location.
SECTOR - Police sector where the crime was reported.
CCN - Case control number assigned to the crime report.
OFFENSEKEY - Categorized crime classification, including major and subcategories.
REPORT_DAT - Date when the crime was officially reported.
OCTO_RECORD_ID - Unique identifier for the record in the dataset.
CENSUS_TRACT - Census tract ID where the crime took place.
BLOCK_GROUP - Census block group ID for demographic analysis.
VOTING_PRECINCT - Electoral precinct associated with the location.
METHOD - Method used in the crime (e.g., gun, others).
WARD - City council district where the crime occurred.
BID - Business Improvement District, if applicable.
LOCATION - Geographical coordinates in (latitude, longitude) format.
OFFENSE - Type of crime committed (e.g., theft, homicide, robbery).
DISTRICT - Police district overseeing the location.
YEAR - Year the crime occurred.
OFFENSEGROUP - Crime classification (Violent or Property).
ANC - Advisory Neighbourhood Commission ID.
OFFENSE-TEXT - Descriptive text of the crime.
UCR-RANK - Uniform Crime Reporting (UCR) rank, indicating severity.
Technical requirements
- Build your report using only Power BI
- The number of pages in the report is not limited
- At least one report page has to contain a minimum of 2 ZoomCharts Drill Down Visuals. See a practical guide on Drill Down Visuals here
Judging criteria
Each report is evaluated based on three main criteria: intuitiveness, insightfulness, and interactivity. These factors ensure that the reports are not only accurate and functional, but also meet the target audience's needs and are ready to be presented to the end-users.
- Intuitive: How clear and easy it is to understand the report at a glance? (max 15 points)
- Is the report visually appealing?
- Choice of charts and visual elements
- Does the report tell a story?
- Is it not overwhelming to the user?
- Choice of tooltips, titles, and legends
- Interactive: How engaging and seamless is the report exploration and interaction with data? (max 15 points)
- Clear navigation that allows user to explore the report
- Use of slicers and other interactive elements
- Smooth cross-chart integration
- Is report optimized for touch devices?
- Are tutorials and guiding elements helpful to the user?
- Insightful: How accurate, complete, and meaningful is the data in driving decisions? (max 15 points)
- Depth of analysis
- Data cleaning and preparation
- Does data show up accurately in the report?
- Is report optimized for quicker loading time?
- Does the report provide deeper exploration of data (drill-down)?
Timeline
Workshop | Workshop: Practical Tips for Visualizing Crime Data
Workshop | Workshop: Practical Tips for Visualizing Crime Data
11 March | 07:00
-
Webinar | Crime Data Analysis: Top 5 Power BI Reports & Expert Insights
Webinar | Crime Data Analysis: Top 5 Power BI Reports & Expert Insights
28 March | 09:00
28 February - 24 March