Census Output Areas 2011
2011 OA's
This dataset shows the 2011 Census Output Areas (OAs). OAs are the smallest geographical unit for which Census data is released, and as a result, they act as the basic “building-blocks” for the creation of other “higher” geographies, eg Datazones, council areas. The OAs are constructed by aggregating together a small number of postcodes. Because the OAs cover small areas and contain relatively small numbers of households and population (households in the range 20 to 77; population >/= 50), there is only a limited amount of Census data that can be released without infringing confidentiality. One of the main requirements during the creation of the 2011 OAs was to attempt to keep the 2011 boundaries the same as the 2001 OAs – this would make it easier to comparison over 10 years. There are 46,351 Census 2011 OAs in Scotland. Revisions and Corrections Revision to 2011 Output Area codes (13 September 2013) 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. Revision to Output Area boundaries at boundary between East Renfrewshire and Renfrewshire Council areas (7 October 2013) Output Areas S00102734, S00102787, and S00128636 have been amended following a correction to Ordnance Survey BoundaryLine. Correction to Output Area boundaries (7 October 2013) Output Areas S00092480, S00092699, S00093130, S00094559, S00094726, S00102583, S00119179, S00119262, S00126169, S00126157, and S00133403 have been amended as part of the cosmetic exercise/spatial improvement.
dataset
protocol: WWW:LINK-1.0-http--link
name: National Records of Scotland website
description: Geography – 2011 Census Boundaries
OutputArea2011
www.nrscotland.gov.uk
eng
EPSG
OSGB 1936 / British National Grid (EPSG:27700)
boundaries
Statistical units
publication
2008-06-01
-7.75714
-0.53202
61.46459
54.53297
2011
2011
creation
2013-08-15
revision
2013-10-07
publication
2013-10-07
asNeeded
This dataset shows the 2011 Census Output Areas (OAs). OAs are the smallest geographical unit for which Census data is released, and as a result, they act as the basic “building-blocks” for the creation of other statistical geographies, eg Datazones, council areas. The OAs are constructed by aggregating together a small number of postcodes. Because the OAs cover small areas and contain relatively small numbers of households and population (households in the range 20 to 77; population >/= 50), there is only a limited amount of Census data that can be released without infringing confidentiality. An important requirement during the creation of the 2011 OAs was to attempt to keep the boundaries the same, or similar, as the 2001 OAs – this would make it easier to compare over 10 years. The process for creating the OAs was as follows: Output Areas for the 2011 Census were created as groups of postcodes nesting as well as possible into the following geographies in descending order of preference when not all postcodes in the OA belong to a single combination of these area types: • Council Area • 2010 Locality 1. The 2011 census counts (population and households) were allocated to the individual postcodes which were assigned to 2001 OA, boundaries dissolved to create a set of 2001 OA based on the 2011 frozen postcodes. This highlighted the OAs which fell outside the stated parameters. 2. Where the 2001 OA dropped below the 2011 minimum threshold for confidentiality (50 persons and 20 households) it was merged with a neighbouring 2001 OA. In addition where 2001 OA had increased in size, particularly those which exceeded the 2011 recommended maximum threshold (approximately) 78 households) have been split where possible into two or more OA. 3 There are no OA below the lower threshold for the number of required households (20) and population (50) 4 As a result 46,351 Census 2011 OAs in Scotland have been created. 5. Spatial improvement. Of the OA created 349 are non contiguous because the polygons are separated by other output areas. It was agreed that the parts which did not contain master postcode (in most instances the smaller polygon) would be removed and the area merged with adjoining OA to create a single polygon where possible. This was purely a cosmetic exercise and did not affect census statistics, calculation of the master postcode, the higher area assignment of the area calculation for the OA all of which were based on all of the constituent parts of the OA. A boundary dataset detailing the OA parts which were removed is available together with a lookup file listing the affected postcodes and OAs. The dataset still contains non contiguous OA that are separated by water. The boundaries are available for two geographic extents: Extent of the Realm (EoR) The boundaries in this dataset are to the Mean Low Water mark so that the coastline is extended to be consistent with Local Authorities. and Clipped to the coastline with inland water removed (MHW) The boundaries in this dataset have been clipped to the coastline (Mean High Water Mark) with inland water removed. This version closely represents map users expectations of how a coastal boundary should look. The Standard Area measurements were used to identify bodies of inland water and subsequently removed. Revisions and Corrections Revision to 2011 Output Area codes (13 September 2013) 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. Revision to Output Area boundaries at boundary between East Renfrewshire and Renfrewshire Council areas (7 October 2013) Output Areas S00102734, S00102787, and S00128636 have been amended following a correction to Ordnance Survey BoundaryLine. Correction to Output Area boundaries (7 October 2013) Output Areas S00092480, S00092699, S00093130, S00094559, S00094726, S00102583, S00119179, S00119262, S00126169, S00126157, and S00133403 have been amended as part of the cosmetic exercise/spatial improvement described earlier. These ‘parts’ have been added to the Output Area Part Removed dataset.
Shapefile
ArcGIS 10
Licence
No conditions apply
Geography
National Records of Scotland
Ladywell House, Ladywell Road
Edinburgh
EH12 7TF
United Kingdom
geographycustomerservices@nrscotland.gov.uk
owner
Geography
National Records of Scotland
Ladywell House, Ladywell Road
Edinburgh
EH12 7TF
United Kingdom
geographycustomerservices@nrscotland.gov.uk
distributor
Geographic Information Science and Analysis Team (GI-SAT), Digital Public Services, DG Enterprise, Environment and Digital
Scottish Government
Victoria Quay
Edinburgh
EH6 6QQ
United Kingdom
publisher
Geography
National Records of Scotland
Ladywell House, Ladywell Road
Edinburgh
EH12 7TF
United Kingdom
geographycustomerservices@nrscotland.gov.uk
pointOfContact
2018-02-22