The agenda and minutes from the last meeting of the Output Area Classification User Group Steering Committee are now available here.

We are currently in the planning phase of the next OAC User Group event which will be held at the Royal Statistical Society on 6th September 2010 – more details to follow …

Following requests from a number of their customers the InstantAtlas team have produced a Geodemographic demonstrator application that presents OAC for Nottingham. The interactive page overlays school locations, wards and Area Committees on top of OAC, and includes extensive metadata, notes and photos.

To view this application you will need an Internet browser that is compatible with Adobe Flash viewer. The Flash player is available for download from here.

ONS is holding an output consultation roadshow in October,  and this gives OAC users the opportunity to support the essential pre-conditions for 2011 area classification and open geodemography.  All OAC users are being encourage to participate in this consultation. Read the rest of this entry »

OAC has been used for the first time to analyse figures in the recent Home Office report; Crime in England and Wales 2008/2009, and shows some telling associations with OAC super groups.

Read the rest of this entry »

Here is an excellent example of the use of OAC. Click on this link to see the Leicestershire Community Safety Partnership evidence base which uses OAC quite widely. Particularly pages 12 to 15, 18, 25, 26, 40 and 44.

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.

Royal Statistical Society, Errol Street, London

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. Read the rest of this entry »

From The Association of Public Health Observatories (APHO) website:

“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

OAC coded ONS survey data are becoming progressively available through the UK Data Archive.  Variables from the Expenditure and Food Survey (EFS) are available now and data from the English Housing and the Family Resources Surveys are due to be available later this year.  We have prepared a brief note about access to the data. Read the rest of this entry »

The OACUG course “Getting Value from OAC’ was held successfully on 24 March when some fifteen participants spent a packed day getting a hands on introduction to organising data and analysis by OAC. This was the second time the course has been run, and it may be repeated in future to meet demand.