Dr Buttery’s letter (1) contains excellent observations, and he is entirely correct in his assessment of the suitability of my article (2) for presentation to policy makers. Policy makers and the lay public are not expected to have an interest in, or to comprehend, the quantitative methods behind the spatial analysis of poverty. The primary purpose of my Tools and Techniques article was to illustrate some quantitative approaches to visualization and exploratory data analysis using data available in the Community Health Status Indicators database. The article also included observations about the variable of interest: poverty. I have been surprised, but not displeased, that most feedback on this article (which I have received informally through e-mails and conversations) has focused on its substantive findings and not its methodology.