Identification

Title

Census Output Areas Population Weighted Centroids 2011

Alternative title(s)

Abstract

This dataset shows the 2011 Census Output Areas (OAs) Population Weighted Centroids. An individual Output Area generally covers a sufficiently small area (subject to meeting minimum population / household counts) so that user defined or ad-hoc areas can be created while maintaining a sufficient level of quality. National Records of Scotland (NRS) produces only one set of OAs and creates all other output geographies using the OA as the building brick. Each OA is assigned to an area in a higher geography by first selecting one of the postcodes in the OA as a ‘master’ postcode. The OA inherits all of the characteristics of the master postcode including its assignments to higher areas and its grid reference. The master postcode was selected using an algorithm which calculates the postcode centroid within an OA which has grid references closest to the population-weighted centre of the OA. An anomaly was discovered in the 2011 Census Output Area (OA) codes which were published on 15 August 2013. The anomaly meant that, whilst all the current 2011 Census OA codes were unique, they did not always run in sequential order by council area. We decided to replace the codes with new ones that start at S00088956 and end with S00135306.

Resource type

dataset

Resource locator

http://www.nrscotland.gov.uk/statistics-and-data/geography/our-products/census-datasets/2011-census/2011-boundaries

protocol: WWW:LINK-1.0-http--link

name: National Records of Scotland website

description: Geography – 2011 Census Boundaries

function: information

Unique resource identifier

code

OutputArea2011_PWC

codeSpace

www.nrscotland.gov.uk

Dataset language

eng

Spatial reference system

code identifying the spatial reference system

Additional information source

Classification of spatial data and services

Topic category

boundaries

Keywords

Keyword set

keyword value

Statistical units

originating controlled vocabulary

title

GEMET - INSPIRE themes, version 1.0

reference date

date type

publication

effective date

2008-06-01

Geographic location

West bounding longitude

-8.80

East bounding longitude

-0.71

North bounding latitude

60.87

South bounding latitude

54.63

Extent

Extent group

authority code

code identifying the extent

Temporal reference

Temporal extent

Begin position

2011

End position

2011

Dataset reference date

date type

creation

effective date

2013-08-15

date type

revision

effective date

2013-09-13

date type

publication

effective date

2013-09-13

Frequency of update

asNeeded

Quality and validity

Lineage

This dataset shows the 2011 Census Output Areas (OAs) Population Weighted Centroids. An individual Output Area generally covers a sufficiently small area (subject to meeting minimum population / household counts) so that user defined or ad-hoc areas can be created while maintaining a sufficient level of quality. National Records of Scotland (NRS) produces only one set of OAs and creates all other output geographies using the OA as the building brick. Each OA is assigned to an area in a higher geography by first selecting one of the postcodes in the OA as a ‘master’ postcode. The OA inherits all of the characteristics of the master postcode including its assignments to higher areas and its grid reference. This dataset shows the 2011 Census Output Areas (OAs) Population Weighted Centroids. An individual Output Area generally covers a sufficiently small area (subject to meeting minimum population / household counts) so that user defined or ad-hoc areas can be created while maintaining a sufficient level of quality. National Records of Scotland (NRS) produces only one set of OAs and creates all other output geographies using the OA as the building brick. Each OA is assigned to an area in a higher geography by first selecting one of the postcodes in the OA as a ‘master’ postcode. The OA inherits all of the characteristics of the master postcode including its assignments to higher areas and its grid reference. The master postcode was selected using an algorithm which calculates the postcode centroid within an OA which has grid references closest to the population-weighted centre of the OA. This is different from the methodology employed in 2001 where the weighting was based on household count alone. In some instances, it was necessary to assign master postcodes manually or deviate from the standard algorithm, for example, if two postcode centroids were equidistant from the population-weighted centre of the OA. Revised 2011 Output Area codes An anomaly was discovered in the 2011 Census Output Area (OA) codes which were published on 15 August 2013. The anomaly meant that, whilst all the current 2011 Census OA codes were unique, they did not always run in sequential order by council area. We understood that this was creating additional work for some users so we decided to replace the current 2011 OA codes with new ones that run sequentially within each council area. The new codes start at S00088956 and end with S00135306. The 2011 Census geography datasets published on 15 August 2013 were removed temporarily from the NRS website while this work was going on. No shape boundaries, population or household estimates for OAs changed as a result of this work, only the 9-character S-code they were assigned. A lookup file linking the archived 2011 OA code to the new 2011 OA code has also been published to help users who have already started work using the archived set of OA codes. The archived set of codes range from S00042605 to S00088955.

Conformity

Conformity report

specification

title

reference date

date type

publication

effective date

2010-12-08

degree

false

explanation

Data format

name of format

Pointfile

version of format

ArcGIS 10

Constraints related to access and use

Constraint set

Limitations on public access

Constraint set

Limitations on public access

The following statements must be used when reproducing or using this material: Copyright National Records of Scotland, contains Ordnance Survey data © Crown copyright and database right (insert year).

Responsible organisations

Responsible party

contact position

Geography

organisation name

National Records of Scotland

full postal address

Ladywell House, Ladywell Road

Edinburgh

EH12 7TF

United Kingdom

email address

geographycustomerservices@nrscotland.gov.uk

responsible party role

distributor

Responsible party

contact position

Geography

organisation name

National Records of Scotland

full postal address

Ladywell House, Ladywell Road

Edinburgh

EH12 7TF

United Kingdom

email address

geographycustomerservices@nrscotland.gov.uk

responsible party role

owner

Responsible party

contact position

Geographic Information Science and Analysis Team (GI-SAT), Digital Public Services, DG Enterprise, Environment and Digital

organisation name

Scottish Government

full postal address

Victoria Quay

Edinburgh

EH6 6QQ

United Kingdom

email address

GI-SAT@scotland.gsi.gov.uk

responsible party role

publisher

Metadata on metadata

Metadata point of contact

contact position

Geography

organisation name

National Records of Scotland

full postal address

Ladywell House, Ladywell Road

Edinburgh

EH12 7TF

United Kingdom

email address

geographycustomerservices@nrscotland.gov.uk

responsible party role

pointOfContact

Metadata date

2020-08-06T15:14:48

Metadata language

eng