The Economic Hotspots Dashboard offers a cutting-edge, granular look at where economic activity is rising or falling within Durban. Instead of city-wide aggregates, this dashboard zooms into the local node-level, mapping economic trends by area and identifying “hotspots” of growth or decline across eThekwini’s neighborhoods. It leverages innovative data sources – notably satellite imagery and other spatial data – to detect changes in economic activity that might not be evident from traditional statistics. In essence, it’s like an economic heat map of the city. Bright “hot” spots on the map indicate areas experiencing above-average growth in activity (for example, a commercial hub that’s expanding, or a new industrial park that’s come online), whereas “cooler” spots highlight areas that are stagnating or contracting (perhaps an industrial area impacted by a major factory closure). This dashboard provides an intuitive visualization of Durban’s economic landscape, translating complex data into a map and charts that pinpoint which parts of the metro are thriving and which may need attention. By doing so, it answers questions like: Are Durban’s townships seeing more business activity this year? Which industrial zones are bouncing back from the pandemic? How has the closure of a large facility (like an oil refinery or a manufacturing plant) impacted the immediate surrounding economy? The Economic Hotspots tool shines a light on these spatial patterns. Unlike traditional dashboards that show numeric indicators city-wide, this one’s key “indicators” are often indices or intensity measures plotted geographically each 500m. One primary metric is an Economic Activity Index by location, essentially a score/index or value representing how much economic output or activity is occurring in a small area.