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ONS is holding an output consultation roadshow in October in England and Wales  – more information - and this gives OAC users the opportunity to support the essential pre-conditions for 2011 area classification,  with evidence of benefits from OAC 2001 and area classification generally if possible.

All OAC users are being encouraged to participate in this consultation,  from the viewpoint of interest in OAC as well as from wider interests. 

What OAC 2011 will need
Key points for OAC users are

-  to support the policy set out in the White Paper on the 2011 Census to make output free at the point of use (and with minimal conditions of use),  essential for’open geodemography but under possible threat from shortfalls in Census funding and from limitations on the use of geographical information

-  in particular to emphasize the need for the use of OA boundaries and other geographical information to be free of payments and constraints imposed by the owners of copyright elements in the geography,  including Ordnance Survey and Royal Mail.

-  to make a strong case for a set of counts for the creation of OAC 3011 to be made available as a high priority,  and as a concurrent and  statistically consistent release throughout the UK.

-  to retain objective criteria for any revisions of 2001 OAs and to minimize variation in OA population size in the particular interest of helping to optimize area classification.

These points have a wide significance for Census users and are likely to be shared with many others  and will help to realise the value of the investment in the Census,  not least through encouraging use and innovation.

Input for area classification

It is not entirely clear whether the consultation at this stage will be looking at specific counts in some form of tables,  but the initial set of variables considered for,  and particularly those used in OAC 2001 are a starting point for  2011 requirement at OA level,  and could be drawn from the questions in the UK 2011 Censuses provided data are coded appropriately and confidentiality measures (disclosure control) are not too restrictive at OA level.

The above link opens to an introduction and index which helpfully allows downloads of pdfs of sections of the otherwise bulky report.
The following chapters are worth checking for OAC content:

Chapter 5 – Public perceptions (pdf, 140KB)

Chapter 6 –Detection of crime (pdf, 60KB)

Chapter 7 – Geographic patterns of crime (pdf, 236KB)

The OAC User Group would like to thank all those who participated in Developments in Geodemographic Visualisation on 15 September; slides from the talk are available.

More information

As ever please do not hesitate to contact martin.robson@lbhf.gov.uk if you have any queries, with news about developments of interest to OAC users or with examples of use to post on the OAC website.

1.30pm 15th September 2009

Aim of the Workshop

The aim of this seminar was to present a number of innovative developments in visualisation methods and technology which can enhance interpretation of geodemographic classification. This seminar was aimed at both a professional and academic audiences and will be interest to all users of geodemographics.

Geodemographic classification simplify the complex characteristics of neighbourhoods into an understandable and easy to interpret typology. Much of this effectiveness is attributable to the use of visualisation accompanying the classification in the form of text, images, maps, videos and graphs. However, possible visualisation tools and methods extend far beyond those currently used by commercial and non-commercial geodemographic classification providers. In this workshop we will explore a number of new innovations in this area and present a case for richer communication.

The OAC User Group would like to thank all those who participated in visualisation event; slides from the talk are available below.

Programme

13.30 – 14.00 – Registration
14.00 – 14.10 – Introduction
14.10 – 14.35 – I’nt Maps Brilliant (Dan Vickers, University of Sheffield)
14.35 – 15.00 – Effective Communication (Laura Edwards, Local Futures)
15.00 – 15.25 – Geographic Visualisation (Alex Singleton, University College London)
15.25 – 15.50 – Visualising OAC (Aidan Slingsby, City University)
15.50 – 14.15 – 3-D Visualisation (Duncan Smith, University College London)
16.15 – 16.30 – Discussion

Links

Also, as promised, here are the links to the websites and software discussed in the talks:

Websites:

• www.maptube.org
• www.publicprofiler.org/streetview
• http://atlas.publicprofiler.org/
• www.education.publicprofiler.org – forthcoming
• www.localfutures.com
• www.areaprofiles.blogspot.com
• www.londonprofiler.org
• http://www.soi.city.ac.uk/organisation/is/research/giCentre/courses/index.html

Software:

• http://www.processing.org/
• http://mapnik.org/
• http://openlayers.org/
• http://www.openstreetmap.org/

Also, if you would like to ask further questions about specific aspects of the talks, then feel free to drop the presenters and email:

Dan – d.vickers@sheffield.ac.uk

Laura – Laura.Edwards@localfutures.com

Alex – a.singleton@ucl.ac.uk

Aidan – a.slingsby@soi.city.ac.uk

Duncan – duncan.a.smith@ucl.ac.uk

Flyer

A Flyer is available to download [here].

Full Titles and Abstracts

I’nt Maps Brilliant: Understanding Data Through Visualisation

Effective Communication: Visualising OAC for Local Government Policy Users This talk will discuss the different ways of visualising OAC built into the Local Futures Group’s Local Knowledge system. The system allows policy users to analyse their areas using OAC, the main policy context for this being the need to demonstrate an understanding of local communities. The talk will focus on the current tools and how they aid this understanding. It will also cover the next steps required for improving the visualisation of OAC through the re-development of Local Knowledge.

Visualising OAC using rectangular hierarchical cartograms (Aidan Slingsby, City University London)
Many social data are hierarchical and can be mapped into a spatial hierarchy. OAC is an example of a hierarchical classification scheme that classifies population by some of its economic and social characteristics into 7 supergroups, 21 groups and 52 subgroups by Output Area. This talk will demonstrate the use of hierarchical cartograms (spatially-arranged
treemaps) for showing population in its OAC category hierarchy and its spatial hierarchy (using the widely familiar postcode hierarchy of postcode area, district, sector and unit). Examples will illustrate how these graphics can be used to assess the relationship between OAC and population, the spatial granularity at which these vary and the wider applicability of these techniques.

Geographic Visualisation: Neogeography and Area Classification (Alex Singleton, University College London)
In this talk the technical developments in web mapping technology and spatial data infrastructures which have fundamentally changed how users collect, share and interact with information online will be reviewed. Specific reference will be made to how the new tools for Neogeography can aid in disseminating and visualising area classification.

3D Visualisation: Linking Built Environment Models to Geodemographic Datasets (Duncan Smith, University College London)
Recent improvements in Geographic Information (GI) technologies have enabled the development of built environment models, providing detailed analysis of urban form, function and building characteristics such as residential housing types. Through address matching techniques these models can be linked to geodemographic data, and relationships between the built environment and demographic patterns can be explored. This approach is useful for analysing the geography of housing markets and investigating how urban form influences demographic segregation. Built environment models can also be used for the 3D visualisation of geodemographic data, adding a ’sense of place’ to the exploration of urban patterns. Challenges and applications for these techniques will be
discussed.

Registration

The meeting took at the Royal Statistical Society headquarters, 12 Errol Street, London, EC1Y 8LX. There was no charge for this event but pre-registration was required, with early booking recommended and by 10 September at the latest: please email martin.robson@lbhf.gov.uk to book and please let us know your company or organisation affiliation which will help us pitch the event correctly for the audience.
For any other information or queries about the seminar please contact Martin Robson by email on martin.robson@lbhf.gov.uk.

“In this briefing we take a summary overview of segmentation and then focus on one approach to segmentation using geodemographic methods. We then compare the most commonly available geodemographic segmentation tools, highlighting the possible applications within the health sector and discussing some of the factors that should be considered when looking to invest in a system.”

Click here to go to the APHO website to download the report

Laura Edwards of Local Futures and a member of the OACUG steering group has prepared this brief guide.

Expenditure and Food Survey 2007 Data

The Expenditure and Food Survey (EFS) 2007 data are now available through the UK Data Archive but not yet through online access.  The OAC coded 2007 EFS variables are on the household file ‘dvhh’.  The documentation for the 2007 EFS is shown under this link

If you look at Volume F of the user guides, there is a full list of variables.  The OAC variable names are OAC1D, OAC2D and OAC3D.

The two further ONS surveys (English Housing Survey and the Family

Resources Survey) which have been coded to OAC will become available on the Data Archive later this year.

Accessing data through the UK Data Archive

Most major government and academic survey data is available through the UK Data Archive. Users need to be registered to gain access to data.  For many datasets, access is also available through an online data catalogue.   Academic users can access data through their UK federation login (available through HE/FE libraries).   Other users can register for an Athens login.   Details for registering can be found at this link

Charges for access depend on whether the data is to be used for commercial purposes and whether it is accessed online or ordered on a CD.   Commercial conditions are shown here

Information on charges is shown here

For data sets generally at the Archivet here is a catalogue search facility which is accessed by this link