Recently I've been experimenting with google fusion tables and the mapping and database opportunities they present. One dataset I used for this was the new English Indices of Deprivation for 2010 - something the Guardian picked up. This was only really a quick experiment (literally done over an hour or so) but I was impressed with the capabilities.
Since, I'm from Scotland I also did a Scottish version - click the image below to go to the test site. Again, this is only experimental but I find it useful for exploring the data in an easy to use manner.
Technical note: this also led me to discover the amazing shpescape aka Shape to Fusion for converting shapefiles to fusion format - code which was written by Josh Livni at google. Enough nerdspeak for now.
I've been looking at the new Indices of Deprivation a bit more since my last post. Despite the headline-grabbing fact that England's most deprived area is in Essex - in the south of England - the overall patterns remain dominated by the North. This map highlights the least and most deprived areas in England and also notes some important exceptions (click map for full size image)...
I've also put together an animation showing the 1%, 2%, 3%, etc. most deprived areas all the way up to the 10% most deprived - and then the 10% least deprived (as in the map above) in order to demonstrate the general north-south divide. Notice how the cities of Liverpool and Manchester in particular dominate these patterns. If you want to control the animation, you can hit pause then move the slider along the time bar yourself (the video may take a moment to load).
This version is just a small blog size version - I've also posted a larger version on my University of Sheffield pages. So, in contrast to the headlines, it seems clear that deprivation remains more firmly entrenched in the north than in the south (with some exceptions of course).
The English Indices of Deprivation 2010 were published this morning. Previous Indices were published in 2000, 2004 and 2007. I've decided to do a few posts on this because I find it very interesting and it does have real implications in relation to policy. In this post, I've done some basic mapping and analysis (click on any map to view it full size).
A quick snapshot first: the most deprived LSOA is in Tendring, Essex. It used to be in Liverpool. Overall, Liverpool, Middlesbrough, Manchester, Knowsley, Hull, Hackney and Tower Hamlets remain the most deprived local authorities. So, no major surprises.
Overview for the whole of England, with a list of top ten most deprived LSOAs.
Overview cartogram for England, with a list of top ten most deprived LSOAs.
Detailed map showing location of the most deprived LSOA in England.
A zoomable google map version of the above, for good measure.
A more focused map of Merseyside, showing Liverpool, Sefton and Knowsley.
Note: The Indices of Deprivation 2010 are produced for small areas called LSOAs. These lower layer super output areas are not 'neighbourhoods' in a formal sense but they often have a high degree of internal similarity. The average population of an LSOA is about 1500 and in total there are 32,482 of them in England. The data used in the Indices are mostly from 2008 but you can read more about this in the technical report.
I've been thinking about the future a lot recently because I've been working on a proposal involving scenarios and visions for the future of Europe. So, time to post a couple of things on population change and projections. The first thing is that if you type 'world population' into google, you'll get the following results:
Clicking on the graphic will take you to the google chart where you can turn different countries on and off by ticking the boxes. This makes it easy to compare data on population change from 1960 to 2009 (as below).
The data are from the World Development Indicators of The World Bank. But what if you want to know about the future. Well, there are lots of projections for different countries, but I don't think there are any that go as far as the 2004 report from the United Nations, entitled World Population 2300. Yes, the year 2300.
This is a 254 page report by the Economic and Social Affairs division and they firsst consider projections to 2050 and discuss assumptions and long-range possibilities. Part 2 looks at different scenarios and different areas of the world (e.g. Oceania). Other parts look at country rankings, population density and ageing. The world population projection for 2300 is projected to be about 9 billion. This has already been covered in a Worldmapper map, so no map here. That's all for now...
It's been a while since I wrote about a GIS tool. Sometimes when I'm working with geographic data the need arises to create a set of repeating shapes and I look for tools to automate it. In ArcGIS, the best I've found is Repeating Shapes for ArcGIS by Jeff Jenness.
Very easy to download and install and then you can get started. Some example images below based on hexagons and the documentation pdf.
New data on regional gross domestic product (GDP) was published by Eurostat yesterday. It is for the year of 2008 and covers the 27 Member States. When you look at the data for NUTS 2 level the results are very interesting. When you account for purchasing power standards and index the EU average at 100, the highest figure is Inner London, at 343. The lowest figure is for the Bulgarian region of Severozapaden - officially the poorest region in the EU by this measure.
Here's how it looks on the map...
Clearly, the eastern and southern parts of the EU territory are 'poorest' by this measure and there are some major concentrations of low values in the accession states - particularly in Bulgaria and Romania. Of the 64 regions with a GDP of below 75% of the EU average, here's where they are:
"Among the 64 regions below the 75% level, fifteen were in Poland, seven each in the Czech Republic and Romania, six each in Bulgaria and Hungary, four each in Italy and Portugal, three each in Greece, France (all overseas departments) and Slovakia, two in the United Kingdom, one in Spain, as well as Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania."
Within the UK, there is significant variation, from 71 in West Wales and the Valleys to 343 in Inner London, though it is worth pointing out that GDP data is affected by commuting patterns, particularly in areas of high in-commuting like Inner London. Nonetheless, here's how it looks on the chart...
As you'd expect, this new data has led to various news stories, including this one by the BBC. The data on GDP are never as up to date as we'd like, but it is interesting looking across the regions of the EU and particularly so when we map it.
Over the past few years there has been a growing awareness of the ways in which technology can help cities work more effectively and efficiently. One major initiative in this vein is IBM's Smarter Cities project/programme, which is all about being 'smart' as cities grow and grow and consume more of the world's resources.
Why IBM are doing this, the rationale behind it and the steps they are actually taking are on their website, but here's how they start explaining it all:
"In 1900, only 13% of the world's population lived in cities. By 2050, that number will have risen to 70%. We are adding the equivalent of seven New Yorks to the planet every year.
This unprecedented urbanisation is both a sign of our economic and societal progress and a strain on the planet's infrastructure. It's a challenge felt by mayors, heads of economic development, our schools, police chiefs and other leaders who each help to build and support the communities in which we live.
The challenges these leaders face — educating the young, keeping citizens safe and healthy, attracting and facilitating commerce, and enabling the smooth flow of planes, trains, cars and pedestrians — are compounded by the global economic downturn.
Thankfully, help is at hand. Around the world, intelligence is being infused into the way our cities work."
For more on the above, see the short pdf document...
I've just highlighted the UK section of the IBM Smarter Cities site here but it does refer to places across the globe and in the Case Study section you can see examples from Alameda, Queensland and Madrid, among other places. There's even a story about 'CovJam' - click the link to find out more and watch the video below!
The IBM site is certainly worth a look...
There is a special conference on this theme at MIT in April, called Forum on Future Cities, which is likely to be very interesting.
This blog featured data, maps and stories related to my research between 2008 and 2015. I've decided to move on to other things, but I'll leave all content as it is now in case anyone is interested. The focus was normally on things to do with cities, GIS and spatial data analysis. If you want to use any of the material on here just ask, as I'm generally okay with it.
