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DUG: More News
January 7, 2010
Boris Johnson launches London 'Datastore' with hundreds of sets of data
Guardian Technology has trailed this story:
"The Mayor of London, Boris Johnson, will on Thursday launch a website hosting hundreds of sets of data - including previously unreleased information - about the capital, as part of a new scheme intended to encourage people to create "mashups" of data to boost the city's transparency and accountability. Channel 4 will also be offering up to £200,000 through its 4ip fund to help develop the most innovative uses of the data."
Read more at: http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/2010/jan/06/london-datastore-launch-johnson-mashups
The formal launch takes place at the end of this month, but the GLA is already seeking users' views: http://data.london.gov.uk/
It's good to see that Boris Johnson is as enthusiastic about "Making Public Data Public" as Gordon Brown (even if Lord Mandelson is reluctant).
PS. A postscript to my earlier message - you can now see Boris promoting the case for free data (but also struggling with Skype - it's a hoot):
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NjcZOefdmXE&feature=player_embedded#
_______________________________________
January 1, 2010
ONS's Census News - Latest Update, including Consultations on 2011 Outputs - Statistics and Geography
ONS has announced two consultations which are really important to us:
http://www.ons.gov.uk/census/2011-census/consultations/index.html
* Output Consultation: Main statistical outputs
This goes into considerable detail. It takes the 2001 tables as a starting point (which makes life simpler), and then highlights the impacts of changed questions (e.g. Type of Central Heating, and Ethnicity), and the opportunities created by the new questions - Second Residence & Language (& also National Identity, Citizenship, Month & Year of Entry, Intention to Stay, and Number of Bedrooms).
I shall start to review the particular priorities that we've argued for in earlier consultations (e.g. Workplace stats, OAC, Social Grade, Multivariate counts, etc.) but it will be really helpful to get your views on particular 2001 tables (or, failing that, topics) that have been valuable to you, including mainstream stuff on age, sex, tenure, NS-SEC, etc.
* Census Output Geography Consultation
This consultation is less demanding. ONS are already committed to keeping existing Output Areas wherever possible, and I'm assuming that we shall continue to support that vigorously. 3 issues are raised:
- A new geography for improved reporting of business statistics and statistics relating to the workplace [Sounds beneficial, as long as we continue to get simple workplace counts for all OAs, plus the few OAs with big working populations are split further?]
- An upper layer of Super Output Areas (USOAs) [Of no use to us?]
- A request for exceptional instances of current OAs and SOAs, as designed for 2001, that do not fit present criteria for statistical zones [No objection to a bit of tidying up?]
We have a reasonable amount of time (the closing date is 26 March), but it would be good to get your initial thoughts by the end of January, and then I'll produce a first draft.
These ONS consultations do, of course, apply to England & Wales. Scotland and N Ireland will be announcing their own consultations shortly.
_______________________________________
December 31, 2009
Letter in the Daily Telegraph - "Liberating Royal Mail data will generate tax revenues"
Following the FT's report "Mandy and Gordon - the unravelling" (over PAF), the Daily Telegraph also ran the story.
I wrote on our behalf, and the letter (somewhat altered) was published yesterday 29 December:
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/comment/letters/6901342/A-different-American-election-result-in-2000-would-have-changed-everything.html & scroll down to the letter.
I'll also send the original letter to Lord Mandelson's Department, to make sure that they realise the opposition to his view.
_______________________________________
December 29, 2009
Andrew Tasker - some very bad news
I'm very sorry to have to break the distressing news to you that Andrew Tasker died at the weekend.
Some of you will be aware that Andrew was diagnosed with cancer early in November, and, despite immediately starting a course of chemotherapy, chaired our strategy day on 18 November, and joined our awayday in Bristol on 3 December. I'm sure that we are all shocked to learn how swiftly he has died, and, for those of us lucky enough to know him well, to remember what a fine person he was.
-------------
Annette Dellevoet at Sainsbury's subsequently wrote the following appreciation of Andrew:
In June 1998 Andrew helped to found the Demographics User Group (DUG) along with Keith Dugmore and representatives from Whitbread and M&S. DUG lobbies the government on behalf of commercial users of government statistics as well as sharing methods and techniques and offering analytical training to its member companies. Andrew was an active and enthusiastic member of the group speaking at DUG conferences and running several training courses. It is a measure of his contribution that DUG retained him as an honorary member when he became a consultant. Despite his worsening illness Andrew was an animated contributor to the last DUG meeting on 3rd December. He will be greatly missed by all his DUG colleagues, who valued his wise advice, friendship and support, and have sent many messages of appreciation.
_______________________________________
December 27, 2009
New free datasets - House prices, Household Income estimates, Supermarket accessibility, & LA comparisons
Here's news of several new free datasets from government:
Dwelling prices by dwelling type
"This dataset provides the total number of changes of ownership of dwellings provided by the Land Registry including the type of dwelling and the dwelling price"
http://www.data4nr.net/resources/50/
Income: Model-Based Estimates
"New model-based estimates of average household income have been produced for England and Wales at Middle Layer Super Output Area (MSOA) level"
http://www.neighbourhood.statistics.gov.uk/dissemination/Info.do?page=news/newsitems/income-model-based-estimates.htm
Accessibility - Supermarkets
"The Department for Transport has published statistics on the Core Accessibility Indicators for 2008. The Indicators provide a number of measures of accessibility by public transport, walking, cycling and car to seven service types" - one of these is Supermarkets:
http://www.dft.gov.uk/pgr/statistics/datatablespublications/ltp/coreaccessindicators2008
and
http://www.data4nr.net/resources/836/
The Places Database
"Is now available offering downloads of spatial data from national to local level covering crime, retail floorspace, health, transport etc." The stats are at Local Authority level & above.
http://www.places.communities.gov.uk/
_______________________________________
December 24, 2009
"Mandy and Gordon - the unravelling" (over PAF), + Consultation on Ordnance Survey
Yesterday's Financial Times contained an article http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/4afe99e0-ef44-11de-86c4-00144feab49a.html about Lord Mandelson resisting Gordon Brown's announcement about Making Public Data Public.
The article drags in PAF (rather than just postcodes & grid references), which hasn't been mentioned before.
The article also mentions the consultation on Ordnance Survey being delayed, but this morning I've just been alerted to: http://www.communities.gov.uk/publications/corporate/ordnancesurveyconsultation
Being faced with 91 pages from CLG makes your heart sink, but at least it's out before Xmas, rather than delayed, which would have increased the risk of the standard 3 month consultation period running into the election buffers.
_______________________________________
December 11, 2009
ONS's new Wealth and Assets Survey published
This is a new survey from ONS which I think may be of interest to many DUG members. Here are some headlines:
"Private household net wealth in Great Britain totalled £9 trillion in 2006/08, according to the Wealth in Great Britain report published today by the Office for National Statistics. The report presents results from the new Wealth and Assets survey, which found that wealth held in property and private pensions each account for 39 per cent of the total amount of private net wealth. Net financial wealth and physical goods, such as cars and antiques, each accounted for 11 per cent.
The report also shows how wealth was distributed across households. Median household net wealth was £204,500 in 2006/08. The least wealthy half of households accounted for only 9 per cent of wealth, while the wealthiest 20 per cent of households had 62 per cent of total wealth. The least wealthy 10 per cent of households had negative total net wealth.
Estimates of wealth varied across Great Britain. The wealthiest area was the South East of England with a median household wealth of £287,900. The area with the lowest median was Scotland with £150,600."
You'll find more details including the 174-page report at: http://www.statistics.gov.uk/StatBase/Product.asp?vlnk=15074
_______________________________________
December 9, 2009
Financial Times - "Data giveaway aims to bolster growth"
The Financial Times (8 December 2009) reports the latest exciting news of Making Public Data Public:
"Masses of mapping, weather and public transport data that the government currently sells are to be given away in a move that ministers hope will create scores of new businesses whose earnings will boost both the economy and taxes.
In a revolutionary initiative, a range of Ordnance Survey, Met Office, public transport and postcode data will be made available for commercial reuse. The step will cost the organisations involved many tens of millions of pounds in current income but John Denham, the communities secretary, said it could create billions of pounds worth of business over the years as entrepreneurs found new ways to deploy it........"
Read the full article at: http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/cdcc60a2-e399-11de-9f4f-00144feab49a.html
_______________________________________
November 20, 2009
Public Administration Select Committee - Census Questions - & DUG mentioned on Radio 4
The House of Commons Public Administration Select Committee held its session on 2011 Census questions yesterday.
The MPs focused on Sexual Orientation, Migration & Religion - & of course we witnesses raised Income.
The hearing can be viewed on the web at: http://www.parliament.uk/parliamentary_committees/public_administration_select_committee.cfm
& the transcript should be published in a couple of weeks too.
Radio 4's Today programme picked up the story this morning (c.6.45) & included a clip DUG's views on a question on sexual orientation ("well down our list of priorities").#
#. This exchange started:
Q: What do you think about sex?
A: It's OK (laughter)
_______________________________________
November 20, 2009
Making Public Data Public - more news
This news, which is potentially of great significance, is moving fast.
Here's the latest instalment from the Guardian's Free Our Data Campaign, which starts:
"The Free Our Data campaign has scored a major victory, with the announcement by the government that it intends to make Ordnance Survey maps free for use online by any organisation – including commercial ones – at resolutions more detailed than commercial 1:25,000 Landranger maps from April next year.
The announcement of the opening of a consultation on the plan by Gordon Brown at Downing Street on Tuesday, as part of a seminar on making public data public – set in the wider context of public service reform, under the "Smarter Government" umbrella – indicates that the ideas underpinning the campaign have now been taken on board at the highest levels of government........"
Read more at: http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/2009/nov/19/ordnance-survey-maps-free-online
_______________________________________
November 17, 2009
Breaking news: Better access to Ordnance Survey data
Here's what looks like significant news from the Advisory Panel for Public Sector Information (APPSI). It's picked up a CLG press release which starts:
“The Prime Minister and Communities Secretary John Denham will today announce that the public will have more access to Ordnance Survey maps from next year, as part of a Government drive to open up data to improve transparency. Speaking at a seminar on Smarter Government in Downing Street later today, attended by Sir Tim Berners-Lee and Professor Nigel Shadbolt, the Prime Minister will set out how the Government and Ordnance Survey, Great Britain’s national mapping agency, will open up its data relating to electoral and local authority boundaries, postcode areas and mid scale mapping information”………
We’ll no doubt learn more detail - and whether the OS dam has finally cracked - in tomorrow’s press. (The Guardian tried to contact me this afternoon).
_______________________________________
November 13, 2009
Department for Transport - National Public Transport Gazetteer
Following my message in September about public transport access points (see below), the Department for Transport has also announced its National Public Transport Gazetteer: " A topographic database of towns and settlements in the UK providing a common frame of reference for UK Public Transport Information schemas. The appropriate naming of towns and places is vital for providing effective place and stop finding in all modern on-line journey planners and other Passenger Information systems".
Detail can be found at: http://www.nptg.org.uk/
_______________________________________
November 12, 2009
Conservatives seek to cut 2011 Census questions; + House of Commons Committee hearing
Here's some potentially serious news about the 2011 Census.
Nick Hurd MP, the Shadow Cabinet Office minister has written to the head of the UK Statistics Authority (Sir Michael Scholar) saying "We do not believe that the 2011 Census can have the size and scope that has been proposed, particularly since we believe that many of the proposed questions are unsuitable........and urge you to scale back its cost and scope in order to save money and reduce its intrusive impact on citizens".
The Public Administration Select Committee is now to hold a session next Thursday 19 November on the 2011 census questions. Fortunately, I've been asked to give evidence at the hearing, along with Prof. Phil Rees (Leeds University) & a representative of the Equality and Human Rights Commission.
_______________________________________
November 6, 2009
Appointment of new head of ONS - Stephen Penneck
I'm delighted to report that Stephen Penneck - winner of the DUG Award this year - has now been appointed as the new boss of ONS.
_______________________________________
January 7, 2010
Boris Johnson launches London 'Datastore' with hundreds of sets of data
Guardian Technology has trailed this story:
"The Mayor of London, Boris Johnson, will on Thursday launch a website hosting hundreds of sets of data - including previously unreleased information - about the capital, as part of a new scheme intended to encourage people to create "mashups" of data to boost the city's transparency and accountability. Channel 4 will also be offering up to £200,000 through its 4ip fund to help develop the most innovative uses of the data."
Read more at: http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/2010/jan/06/london-datastore-launch-johnson-mashups
The formal launch takes place at the end of this month, but the GLA is already seeking users' views: http://data.london.gov.uk/
It's good to see that Boris Johnson is as enthusiastic about "Making Public Data Public" as Gordon Brown (even if Lord Mandelson is reluctant).
PS. A postscript to my earlier message - you can now see Boris promoting the case for free data (but also struggling with Skype - it's a hoot):
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NjcZOefdmXE&feature=player_embedded#
_______________________________________
January 1, 2010
ONS's Census News - Latest Update, including Consultations on 2011 Outputs - Statistics and Geography
ONS has announced two consultations which are really important to us:
http://www.ons.gov.uk/census/2011-census/consultations/index.html
* Output Consultation: Main statistical outputs
This goes into considerable detail. It takes the 2001 tables as a starting point (which makes life simpler), and then highlights the impacts of changed questions (e.g. Type of Central Heating, and Ethnicity), and the opportunities created by the new questions - Second Residence & Language (& also National Identity, Citizenship, Month & Year of Entry, Intention to Stay, and Number of Bedrooms).
I shall start to review the particular priorities that we've argued for in earlier consultations (e.g. Workplace stats, OAC, Social Grade, Multivariate counts, etc.) but it will be really helpful to get your views on particular 2001 tables (or, failing that, topics) that have been valuable to you, including mainstream stuff on age, sex, tenure, NS-SEC, etc.
* Census Output Geography Consultation
This consultation is less demanding. ONS are already committed to keeping existing Output Areas wherever possible, and I'm assuming that we shall continue to support that vigorously. 3 issues are raised:
- A new geography for improved reporting of business statistics and statistics relating to the workplace [Sounds beneficial, as long as we continue to get simple workplace counts for all OAs, plus the few OAs with big working populations are split further?]
- An upper layer of Super Output Areas (USOAs) [Of no use to us?]
- A request for exceptional instances of current OAs and SOAs, as designed for 2001, that do not fit present criteria for statistical zones [No objection to a bit of tidying up?]
We have a reasonable amount of time (the closing date is 26 March), but it would be good to get your initial thoughts by the end of January, and then I'll produce a first draft.
These ONS consultations do, of course, apply to England & Wales. Scotland and N Ireland will be announcing their own consultations shortly.
_______________________________________
December 31, 2009
Letter in the Daily Telegraph - "Liberating Royal Mail data will generate tax revenues"
Following the FT's report "Mandy and Gordon - the unravelling" (over PAF), the Daily Telegraph also ran the story.
I wrote on our behalf, and the letter (somewhat altered) was published yesterday 29 December:
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/comment/letters/6901342/A-different-American-election-result-in-2000-would-have-changed-everything.html & scroll down to the letter.
I'll also send the original letter to Lord Mandelson's Department, to make sure that they realise the opposition to his view.
_______________________________________
December 29, 2009
Andrew Tasker - some very bad news
I'm very sorry to have to break the distressing news to you that Andrew Tasker died at the weekend.
Some of you will be aware that Andrew was diagnosed with cancer early in November, and, despite immediately starting a course of chemotherapy, chaired our strategy day on 18 November, and joined our awayday in Bristol on 3 December. I'm sure that we are all shocked to learn how swiftly he has died, and, for those of us lucky enough to know him well, to remember what a fine person he was.
-------------
Annette Dellevoet at Sainsbury's subsequently wrote the following appreciation of Andrew:
In June 1998 Andrew helped to found the Demographics User Group (DUG) along with Keith Dugmore and representatives from Whitbread and M&S. DUG lobbies the government on behalf of commercial users of government statistics as well as sharing methods and techniques and offering analytical training to its member companies. Andrew was an active and enthusiastic member of the group speaking at DUG conferences and running several training courses. It is a measure of his contribution that DUG retained him as an honorary member when he became a consultant. Despite his worsening illness Andrew was an animated contributor to the last DUG meeting on 3rd December. He will be greatly missed by all his DUG colleagues, who valued his wise advice, friendship and support, and have sent many messages of appreciation.
_______________________________________
December 27, 2009
New free datasets - House prices, Household Income estimates, Supermarket accessibility, & LA comparisons
Here's news of several new free datasets from government:
Dwelling prices by dwelling type
"This dataset provides the total number of changes of ownership of dwellings provided by the Land Registry including the type of dwelling and the dwelling price"
http://www.data4nr.net/resources/50/
Income: Model-Based Estimates
"New model-based estimates of average household income have been produced for England and Wales at Middle Layer Super Output Area (MSOA) level"
http://www.neighbourhood.statistics.gov.uk/dissemination/Info.do?page=news/newsitems/income-model-based-estimates.htm
Accessibility - Supermarkets
"The Department for Transport has published statistics on the Core Accessibility Indicators for 2008. The Indicators provide a number of measures of accessibility by public transport, walking, cycling and car to seven service types" - one of these is Supermarkets:
http://www.dft.gov.uk/pgr/statistics/datatablespublications/ltp/coreaccessindicators2008
and
http://www.data4nr.net/resources/836/
The Places Database
"Is now available offering downloads of spatial data from national to local level covering crime, retail floorspace, health, transport etc." The stats are at Local Authority level & above.
http://www.places.communities.gov.uk/
_______________________________________
December 24, 2009
"Mandy and Gordon - the unravelling" (over PAF), + Consultation on Ordnance Survey
Yesterday's Financial Times contained an article http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/4afe99e0-ef44-11de-86c4-00144feab49a.html about Lord Mandelson resisting Gordon Brown's announcement about Making Public Data Public.
The article drags in PAF (rather than just postcodes & grid references), which hasn't been mentioned before.
The article also mentions the consultation on Ordnance Survey being delayed, but this morning I've just been alerted to: http://www.communities.gov.uk/publications/corporate/ordnancesurveyconsultation
Being faced with 91 pages from CLG makes your heart sink, but at least it's out before Xmas, rather than delayed, which would have increased the risk of the standard 3 month consultation period running into the election buffers.
_______________________________________
December 11, 2009
ONS's new Wealth and Assets Survey published
This is a new survey from ONS which I think may be of interest to many DUG members. Here are some headlines:
"Private household net wealth in Great Britain totalled £9 trillion in 2006/08, according to the Wealth in Great Britain report published today by the Office for National Statistics. The report presents results from the new Wealth and Assets survey, which found that wealth held in property and private pensions each account for 39 per cent of the total amount of private net wealth. Net financial wealth and physical goods, such as cars and antiques, each accounted for 11 per cent.
The report also shows how wealth was distributed across households. Median household net wealth was £204,500 in 2006/08. The least wealthy half of households accounted for only 9 per cent of wealth, while the wealthiest 20 per cent of households had 62 per cent of total wealth. The least wealthy 10 per cent of households had negative total net wealth.
Estimates of wealth varied across Great Britain. The wealthiest area was the South East of England with a median household wealth of £287,900. The area with the lowest median was Scotland with £150,600."
You'll find more details including the 174-page report at: http://www.statistics.gov.uk/StatBase/Product.asp?vlnk=15074
_______________________________________
December 9, 2009
Financial Times - "Data giveaway aims to bolster growth"
The Financial Times (8 December 2009) reports the latest exciting news of Making Public Data Public:
"Masses of mapping, weather and public transport data that the government currently sells are to be given away in a move that ministers hope will create scores of new businesses whose earnings will boost both the economy and taxes.
In a revolutionary initiative, a range of Ordnance Survey, Met Office, public transport and postcode data will be made available for commercial reuse. The step will cost the organisations involved many tens of millions of pounds in current income but John Denham, the communities secretary, said it could create billions of pounds worth of business over the years as entrepreneurs found new ways to deploy it........"
Read the full article at: http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/cdcc60a2-e399-11de-9f4f-00144feab49a.html
_______________________________________
November 20, 2009
Public Administration Select Committee - Census Questions - & DUG mentioned on Radio 4
The House of Commons Public Administration Select Committee held its session on 2011 Census questions yesterday.
The MPs focused on Sexual Orientation, Migration & Religion - & of course we witnesses raised Income.
The hearing can be viewed on the web at: http://www.parliament.uk/parliamentary_committees/public_administration_select_committee.cfm
& the transcript should be published in a couple of weeks too.
Radio 4's Today programme picked up the story this morning (c.6.45) & included a clip DUG's views on a question on sexual orientation ("well down our list of priorities").#
#. This exchange started:
Q: What do you think about sex?
A: It's OK (laughter)
_______________________________________
November 20, 2009
Making Public Data Public - more news
This news, which is potentially of great significance, is moving fast.
Here's the latest instalment from the Guardian's Free Our Data Campaign, which starts:
"The Free Our Data campaign has scored a major victory, with the announcement by the government that it intends to make Ordnance Survey maps free for use online by any organisation – including commercial ones – at resolutions more detailed than commercial 1:25,000 Landranger maps from April next year.
The announcement of the opening of a consultation on the plan by Gordon Brown at Downing Street on Tuesday, as part of a seminar on making public data public – set in the wider context of public service reform, under the "Smarter Government" umbrella – indicates that the ideas underpinning the campaign have now been taken on board at the highest levels of government........"
Read more at: http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/2009/nov/19/ordnance-survey-maps-free-online
_______________________________________
November 17, 2009
Breaking news: Better access to Ordnance Survey data
Here's what looks like significant news from the Advisory Panel for Public Sector Information (APPSI). It's picked up a CLG press release which starts:
“The Prime Minister and Communities Secretary John Denham will today announce that the public will have more access to Ordnance Survey maps from next year, as part of a Government drive to open up data to improve transparency. Speaking at a seminar on Smarter Government in Downing Street later today, attended by Sir Tim Berners-Lee and Professor Nigel Shadbolt, the Prime Minister will set out how the Government and Ordnance Survey, Great Britain’s national mapping agency, will open up its data relating to electoral and local authority boundaries, postcode areas and mid scale mapping information”………
We’ll no doubt learn more detail - and whether the OS dam has finally cracked - in tomorrow’s press. (The Guardian tried to contact me this afternoon).
_______________________________________
November 13, 2009
Department for Transport - National Public Transport Gazetteer
Following my message in September about public transport access points (see below), the Department for Transport has also announced its National Public Transport Gazetteer: " A topographic database of towns and settlements in the UK providing a common frame of reference for UK Public Transport Information schemas. The appropriate naming of towns and places is vital for providing effective place and stop finding in all modern on-line journey planners and other Passenger Information systems".
Detail can be found at: http://www.nptg.org.uk/
_______________________________________
November 12, 2009
Conservatives seek to cut 2011 Census questions; + House of Commons Committee hearing
Here's some potentially serious news about the 2011 Census.
Nick Hurd MP, the Shadow Cabinet Office minister has written to the head of the UK Statistics Authority (Sir Michael Scholar) saying "We do not believe that the 2011 Census can have the size and scope that has been proposed, particularly since we believe that many of the proposed questions are unsuitable........and urge you to scale back its cost and scope in order to save money and reduce its intrusive impact on citizens".
The Public Administration Select Committee is now to hold a session next Thursday 19 November on the 2011 census questions. Fortunately, I've been asked to give evidence at the hearing, along with Prof. Phil Rees (Leeds University) & a representative of the Equality and Human Rights Commission.
_______________________________________
I'm delighted to report that Stephen Penneck - winner of the DUG Award this year - has now been appointed as the new boss of ONS.
October 31, 2009
2011 Census plans across European countries
A conference on Population and Housing Censuses across Europe took place in Geneva last week (28-30 October).
All the papers are available at: http://www.unece.org/stats/documents/2009.10.census.htm
The great majority of the 100+ participants were from the Census Offices as suppliers, but I had the chance to talk about "Meeting the needs of Census users in the United Kingdom’s private sector".
For me, the headlines of the conference were:
Data collection:
* The increasing use of administrative registers (good news), although traditional Censuses are still in the majority; there's also increased use of sampling (bad news for small area stats)
* The importance of comprehensive address registers, to get maximum coverage
Outputs:
* Progress on harmonising topics / questions
* BUT, geographical detail is very variable
* Eurostat are interested in Regions & LAs (rather than small areas), and are getting bogged down in trying to deliver multi-dimensional tables (their planned hypercubes run into problems of disclosing info about individuals)
* I made the case (& got it recorded) that the major interest of UK users is for the smallest possible areas, even if for limited variables. This got picked up, with the focus for a meeting next year on dissemination and geo-visualisation.
If you are interested in pursuing the availability of data for other European countries, do get back to me.
Keith Dugmore
_______________________________________
October 16, 2009
DUG's 2009 Conference - News
Here's news of our Conference "Insight and the recession – How we can achieve more and better for less” which was held on 8 October:
* Feedback - this was probably best summarised by Rob Harris, Head of Branch Knowledge at Barclays: "The value this conference has added, and the benefits to my team, are alone worth the annual DUG subscription"
* The presentations are now on our website (see the tab)
* The DUG Award for “Better information from government” was scooped by Stephen Penneck of the Office for National Statistics for the decision to code the ONS’s sample surveys with its OAC geodemographic classification. To quote the citation: "DUG's Conference Board sees this as an excellent example of government using existing sources to create valuable new information at modest cost, which is so important in the current economic climate."
_______________________________________
October 15, 2009
Statistics User Forum conference - 19 November 2009
Here below are details of this year’s Stats User Forum conference on “The measurement of progress”.
The world is changing. The financial crisis has shown that the gains from an excessive focus on debt-fuelled economic growth were short-lived and failed to deliver a sustainable increase in well-being. The pursuit of ever larger economies led to environmental degradation and global imbalances rather than a reduction in poverty, an increase in social justice or a happier society. Post-recession, leaders and their electorates will strive for a greater focus on sustainability to ensure that future gains will be longer-lasting. But what will be the new goals and how will progress towards them be monitored?
See more details at: www.rss.org.uk/sufconference
_______________________________________
October 14, 2009
BBC - Bringing the fight for data home
Following in the trail of the Guardian's long-running Free Our Data campaign, we now have coverage from the BBC:
" Bringing the fight for data home.
The data held by local councils has become the latest target of digital activists. They are keen to get at the information so citizens can put it to their own uses.
Before now the push to get at official data has concentrated on central government. Moves to open up that data took a big step forward in early October when a few web developers were invited to a trial of the data.gov.uk site."
Read more at: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/technology/8297572.stm
_______________________________________
October 6, 2009
Postcode news: UK (bad) & Republic of Ireland (good)
We have both bad & good postcode news today:
1. Legal threat closes postcode feed (in the UK) - news from the BBC
"Websites that help people find jobs or hospitals have been hit by legal action threatened by the Royal Mail. The threat was issued against the company supplying them, and many other sites, with postcode data. Royal Mail said the legal action was threatened to stop "unauthorised access" to the postcode data." Read on at:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/technology/7700621.stm
2. Online retailers welcome postcode system for Republic of Ireland - news from Retail Week
"Retailers have welcomed the revival of plans to introduce a national postcode system in the Republic of Ireland and believe the move should help catalogue and online businesses operate efficiently there. Other than Greece, Ireland is the only EU member state that does not have an established postcode system, which means that offering a home delivery service is a complex and often expensive challenge. But last week the Irish government said it intends to introduce codes comprising digits and letters in 2011.". There's more at:
http://www.retail-week.com/multichannel/online-retail/online-retailers-welcome-postcode-system-for-republic-of-ireland/5006857.article
You'll find further detail & comment at:
http://www.insideireland.ie/index.cfm/section/news/ext/postalcode001/category/1087
http://www.greenparty.ie/news/latest_news/ryan_announces_new_post_code_system_for_ireland
________________________________________October 2, 2009
MRS Census & Geodemographics Group Seminar - Targeting for multi-channel marketing - Monday 23rd November (afternoon)
The next CGG seminar has just been launched, on the important topic of Targeting for multi-channel marketing.
When: afternoon of Monday 23rd November
Where: MRS, 15 Northburgh Street, London EC1
Here's a synopsis of the topics to be discussed, followed by a link to the MRS website - for further details and online booking.
Today's consumers live in a multi-channel maze, targeted by advertising, direct marketing and sales calls. And in the online world, they also receive email marketing, search engine ads and web site offers. With such a range of offline and online channels at their disposal, how do companies select their marketing resources most effectively and measure the ROI? And is there still a role for geodemographics in targeting across offline and online channels?
This half -day seminar will discuss these topics and look at data for targeting, whether online or offline, and some of the latest analytic techniques being applied to multi-channel media. Further details and online registration are available at:
http://www.mrs.org.uk/networking/cgg/multi_channel.htm
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September 30, 2009
DUG Conference, The Royal Society, 8 October 2009
"Insight and the recession – How we can achieve more and better for less”
9.30 Registration and coffee
10.00 Chair’s introduction. Richard Alldritt (UK Statistics Authority)
10.15 Demonstrating the value of insight at O2. Andrew Day (O2)
10.45 ONS’s business case for the 2011 Census. Glen Watson (ONS)
(11.15 Coffee)
11.40 Using OAC to create new insight from the Expenditure & Food Survey. Professor Martin Callingham (Birkbeck College)
12.10 Google’s vision for more and better information. Kelly Allison (Google)
(12.40 Lunch)
14.00 Parallel workshop sessions:
A) Triangulation: what’s the scope for comparing more information derived from company customer records and government administrative files? Facilitators: Martin Bellingham (The Children’s Mutual) and Roma Chappell (ONS)
B) How can we demonstrate the real value of customer and citizen segmentation? Facilitators: Ian Symis (Boots) and Sara Jones (DCSF)
C) What makes for a successful insight / research & information team? Facilitators: Mike Whitelegge (M&S) and Jenni Venn (Coventry City Council)
(15.30 Tea)
15.50 Workshops – summaries of views
16.10 Panel Session: More and better for less – how we can improve insight and its impact during the recession
Featuring views from Professor Mike Batty (UCL), Steve Penneck (ONS), Andrew Tasker (Optimum Locations & DUG), and Keith Dugmore (DUG)
16.45 Chair’s closing remarks, and The DUG Award 2009
17.00 Reception
The presentations will be posted on www.demographicsusergroup.co.uk
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10.00 Chair’s introduction. Richard Alldritt (UK Statistics Authority)
10.15 Demonstrating the value of insight at O2. Andrew Day (O2)
10.45 ONS’s business case for the 2011 Census. Glen Watson (ONS)
(11.15 Coffee)
11.40 Using OAC to create new insight from the Expenditure & Food Survey. Professor Martin Callingham (Birkbeck College)
12.10 Google’s vision for more and better information. Kelly Allison (Google)
(12.40 Lunch)
14.00 Parallel workshop sessions:
A) Triangulation: what’s the scope for comparing more information derived from company customer records and government administrative files? Facilitators: Martin Bellingham (The Children’s Mutual) and Roma Chappell (ONS)
B) How can we demonstrate the real value of customer and citizen segmentation? Facilitators: Ian Symis (Boots) and Sara Jones (DCSF)
C) What makes for a successful insight / research & information team? Facilitators: Mike Whitelegge (M&S) and Jenni Venn (Coventry City Council)
(15.30 Tea)
15.50 Workshops – summaries of views
16.10 Panel Session: More and better for less – how we can improve insight and its impact during the recession
Featuring views from Professor Mike Batty (UCL), Steve Penneck (ONS), Andrew Tasker (Optimum Locations & DUG), and Keith Dugmore (DUG)
16.45 Chair’s closing remarks, and The DUG Award 2009
17.00 Reception
The presentations will be posted on www.demographicsusergroup.co.uk
September 12, 2009
Department of Transport adds 350,000 public transport access points to Open Street Map
The Department for Transport has recently released data from the National Public Transport Access Node (NaPTAN) database to be put on Open Street Map (OSM). The data contains details of some 350,000 public transport access points in Great Britain including bus stops, railway stations, tram stops and ferry terminals, and meaningful text descriptions of the stop point and its location.
See lots more detail at:
http://blog.okfn.org/2009/08/20/where-is-the-nearest-bus-stop-uk-department-for-transport-adds-naptan-data-to-open-street-map/
It is also stated that Ordnance Survey has no rights to the data, and adds a comment: "This is excellent news - and big kudos to the DfT for donating the data! We hope that other departments consider following suit and adding their geodata to OSM!"
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September 12, 2009
Guardian's Free Our Data - Ordnance Survey under fire again
Charles Arthur has written two more articles about Ordnance Survey - the most recent one is a cracker:
3 September, 2009: "Ordnance Survey business model costs appear in leaked presentation"
http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/2009/sep/02/ordnance-survey-business-model-costs-leak
10 September, 2009: Don't write it down: Ordnance Survey kept no notes of talks with 'expert'
"You have an important study that will be part of your case to a government minister considering the future of your organisation. You have found someone to review it. Would you commission them without swapping letters or email, and without taking any notes of their observations afterwards?
If you're Ordnance Survey, then it seems yes, you would. In a response to a Freedom of Information request – part of a series of requests Guardian Technology has made since May – OS revealed that after it prepared an internal study comparing international models of funding mapping agencies, it asked an "internationally recognised expert in geographical information and national mapping" to review it.
But in an admission that makes the preparation of this potentially key report look rather slipshod, OS said in response to a further FoI request that "a copy of the report was provided to the person concerned and engagement on this matter was conducted orally with no permanent record made of these conversations".........
Read on, at http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/2009/sep/11/free-our-data-freedomofinformation
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August 28, 2009
ONS's latest Population & Migration estimates - UK population grows to 61.4m; birth rate rising
Here below is the latest population news from ONS.
You'll probably have seen lots of press coverage today, e.g. "New baby boom for Britain" (Daily Telegraph):
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/newstopics/politics/lawandorder/6100469/New-baby-boom-for-Britain.html
[what a surprising web address / index!]
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August 19, 2009
"Data Strategy" - MP attacks "scandal" of Census address data
Read all about it at:
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August 7, 2009
Jil Matheson appointed as the new National Statistician
I'm delighted to report that Jil Matheson has been appointed as the new National Statistician.
The official announcement is at http://www.statisticsauthority.gov.uk/news/appointment-of-the-national-statistician.pdf
The scope of the job has been increased, with a wider remit across government, and involvement in the recruitment of a new Director General for the ONS.
Jil has been very supportive of DUG for many years, and at last year's Conference she was on the panel session.
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July 30, 2009
Guardian's Free Our Data - "Government advisors criticise OS's strategy"
Charles Arthur writes:
"Ordnance Survey's proposed business strategy has been strongly criticised by the government's Advisory Panel on Public Sector Information (APPSI), the body that advises ministers on how to encourage wider reuse of public sector data. Separately, OS has finally released an almost unredacted version of its internal report comparing international funding models for mapping agencies – but has declined to name the "internationally recognised expert" who checked it, saying the person wants to remain private......"
and concludes with:
"..............Separately, OS responded, at the end of the last possible day under Freedom of Information Act rules, to Guardian Technology's request for a copy of its internal report on funding models. Almost all the data redacted in the first version has now been released – but nothing seems to back up the statement in May by Sir Rob Margetts, OS's chair, that it showed that moving to a free data model would in the first five years cost "between £500m and £1bn". Guardian Technology will seek to ascertain the basis of Margetts's claims, and any more information about the identity of the expert who checked the study – such as, for example, whether they are an employee of Ordnance Survey."
You can read the full article at http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/2009/jul/29/free-our-data-ordnance-survey
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July 15, 2009
Seven out of Ten Woolworths stores still empty
Here’s a news item from The Local Data Company:
"We recently undertook some research into what happened to over 800 Woolworths stores following Woolworths demise in January - below is some of the commentary from the press:
http://business.timesonline.co.uk/tol/business/industry_sectors/retailing/article6695205.ece
http://www.retail-week.com/property/in-town/70-of-old-woolworths-stores-still-lie-vacant/5004439.article
http://itn.co.uk/63820fae409ac3b6119964fb906539ea.html
http://www.teletext.co.uk/regionalnews/anglia/c7e9a62136faeb94acf8d3b0307b5371/Woolies+stores+still+empty.aspx
http://www.google.com/hostednews/ukpress/article/ALeqM5i0B2uY7HUZLFMXa7uT_oRisfBdgw
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July 11, 2009
National Address Register - support from MPs & the UK Stats Authority
Getting a definitive national address register is one of DUG's priorities, and we are making progress.
At the House of Commons Public Administration Select Committee session on the Census on 25 June Gordon Prentice MP questioned the head of ONS & quoted our submission:
"But these organisations [Royal Mail, Ordnance Survey and Local Government] hold intellectual property rights on the information that they are making available and you have to buy this information from those three organisations. I have been reading the submission that we have from the Demographic User Group and they say that it is scandalous - I thought I had copyright on that word - that you are spending all this money pulling together this information to create an address register and it is only going to be used once; it is only going to be used for the next Census and it is not going to be made available to commercial organisations and other people who could use that information. That really is scandalous, is it not?"
http://www.publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm200809/cmselect/cmpubadm/uc742-i/uc74202.htm
On 8 July the Chair of the UK Statistics Authority, Sir Michael Scholar, wrote to the Minister of State for Housing, John Healey, making the case for establishing a national address register.
http://www.statisticsauthority.gov.uk/reports---correspondence/correspondence/index.html
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July 2, 2009
"Ordnance Survey redacts public data in controversial report"
The Guardian's Charles Arthur's latest instalment:
"A controversial OS study, released in a censored version, leads to a single conclusion: the original was incomplete and fundamentally flawed.......
Are the land mass, population and GDP per capita of the US, Australia, Canada, France, Sweden, the Netherlands, Norway and New Zealand – as well as the legal form of their national mapping agencies – commercially confidential information? If you believe the UK's mapping agency, Ordnance Survey, certainly. Those details were redacted – blacked out in the manner of an MP's expenses – in the copy of a key study it carried out and released to the Guardian under the Freedom of Information (FOI) Act last week.....
Ed Parsons, the former OS chief technology officer who is now Google UK's geospatial technologist, dismissed the report: "OS's 'Research' Report reads like a poor MSc thesis. Why no user perspective?" "
Read all about it at: http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/2009/jul/01/ordnance-survey-censored-report-released
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June 25, 2009
"Ordnance Survey responds, at last, to Freedom of Information request"
The Guardian's Charles Arthur reports:
"The Ordnance Survey consulted mapping agencies in Australia, Canada, France, the Netherlands, Norway, New Zealand, Sweden and the US in compiling its study into possible financial models, it has revealed. However, OS considers that "there are no wholly equivalent organisations ... given [our] range of scales of mapping and other activities", according to data that it released under a Freedom Of Information (FOI) request from the Guardian.
Attention was immediately drawn to the identity of an unnamed "internationally recognised expert in geographical information and national mapping" who OS said had reviewed its study and "agreed with the analysis and conclusions......."
Read all about it at: http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/2009/jun/24/free-our-data-ordnance-survey
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June 18, 2009
OAC User Group free seminar: Developments in Geodemographic Visualisation
The OAC (Output Area Classification) User Group is going from strength to strength, and has arranged the following meeting in September:
* Seminar: Developments in Geodemographic Visualisation
* Objective: The aim is to present a number of innovative developments in visualisation methods and technology which can enhance interpretation of geodemographic classification. This seminar is aimed at both a professional and academic audiences and will be interest to all users of geodemographics.
* Programme:
– Understanding Through Visualisation (Dan Vickers, University of Sheffield) – Effective Communication (Laura Edwards, Local Futures) – Geographic Visualisation (Alex Singleton, University College London) – Data Visualisation (Aidan Slingsby, City University) – 3-D Visualisation (Duncan Smith, University College London)
* Time & Date: 1.30pm, Tuesday 15 September 2009
* Venue: Royal Statistical Society headquarters, 12 Errol Street, London, EC1Y 8LX
* Further details & Registration: http://areaclassification.org.uk/2009/06/16/visualisation/#more-208
I expect that places will be snapped up quickly, so do register (not me - see above!) now if you'd like to attend.
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June 18, 2009
Guardian's Free Our Data campaign - 2 more good articles today
Today's Guardian has two articles by Charles Arthur:
1) Commercial rival to take on Ordnance Survey with its own map data
“Ordnance Survey has a new challenger: a privately owned company – UKMap, part of the GeoInformation Group – that aims to provide local authorities and private companies with large-scale topographic mapping and an address database for British cities, created entirely separately of the government-owned agency…………..
……its arrival means there are now three organisations vying to produce maps of the UK: Ordnance Survey, which derives roughly half its income from licences by taxpayer-funded organisations; OpenStreetMap, a volunteer effort using advances in GPS technology to create a "wikimap" used by some local authorities (and by the Guardian for its Open Platform offering); and now The GeoInformation Group.”
(See the full article at http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/2009/jun/17/free-data-ordnance-survey-maps/print )
2) Let Sir Tim lead the fight for free data
“….Gordon Brown has tasked Sir Tim Berners-Lee with getting government-collected data into more accessible forms, and hence available to more of us…….. Sir Tim nailed his colours to the mast in a riveting talk earlier this year, where he built on Hans Rosling's already thrilling work at Gapminder to emphasise the value of getting data out there into the hands of people who can think of useful, innovative, imaginative things to do with it; he got the audience to chant "Raw data now! Raw data now!"…… [Even we haven't done that]
(See the full article at http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/2009/jun/17/charles-arthur-free-data/print )
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June 5, 2009
ONS advice on measuring change in small areas
ONS is providing some good advice on analysing change in small areas at:
http://neighbourhood.statistics.gov.uk/dissemination/Info.do?page=analysisandguidance/analysistoolkit/analysis-toolkit.htm
You can also get hold of a free copy of their Change over Time Analysis (CoTA) Viewer on CD at:
http://neighbourhood.statistics.gov.uk/dissemination/Info.do?page=analysisandguidance/analysis.htm
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May 16, 2009
ONS admits to getting its sums wrong with overstated retail sales - FT 16 May 2009
Following the discussion of members' doubts about ONS retail stats at our Awayday in December, the Financial Times (Saturday 16 May 2009) reports:
"One of Britain's most closely watched economic indicators has heavily overstated the quantity of high street sales over the past two years, the Office for National Statistics admitted yesterday. Britain's supplier of official statistics conceded that since the financial crisis began in August 2007, it has overstated the volume of retail sales growth by 56 per cent."
Read all about it at: http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/97faf9b2-41b3-11de-bdb7-00144feabdc0.html?nclick_check=1
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May 16, 2009
Shop vacancy rate in towns rises to 12% - FT 16 May 2009
The Financial Times (Saturday 16 May 2009) reports:
"The number of empty stores in the UK's high streets leapt three-fold in just six months as a growing number of retailers were forced out of business by the worsening economic climate.
High-profile casualties such as Woolworths contributed to a rise in vacancy rates from 4 per cent to 12 per cent in the six months to the end of March. Vacancy rates in terms of floorspace are lower, at 10.8 per cent.
Barnaby Oswald, managing director of the Local Data Company, which surveys 675 town centres across the UK, said that the number of businesses closing has increased significantly since last summer"
Read all about it at: http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/b7a7955e-41b3-11de-bdb7-00144feabdc0.html
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May 8, 2009
Ordnance Survey - "new" business strategy - further criticism in The Guardian
Following the news of Ordnance Survey's "new" business strategy (see below), the Guardian has two more articles critical of the government's plans:
* Budget misses free chances (Michael Cross, 30 April 2009):
"The government has thrown away an opportunity to boost the digital economy through a "free data" regime. Announcements made with the budget dashed hopes of radical reforms to the "trading fund" status of state-owned information businesses.
Even worse, the plans do not deal with "derived data" - one of the most contentious fields in intellectual property creation, whereby the creator of a product claims ownership of any IP built with it. Ordnance Survey's aggressive annexation of "derived data" - any detail, such as a cycling route, created using an OS product - has riled a number of people in the commercial sector. "Derived data is the elephant in the room," says Ed Parsons, Google UK's geospatial technologist..........."
Read all about it at: http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/2009/apr/30/government-digital-economy
* Break down the boundaries in Ordnance Survey (Charles Arthur, 7 May 2009):
"The government's decision to consult the public on its reorganisation of Ordnance Survey - announced with the budget last month - is proving popular with would-be users. The proposed reorganisation, however, is not.
Comments on the web page, where the consultation is open for feedback are running overwhelmingly in favour of more freedom for OS data............"
Read all about it at: http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/2009/may/07/ordnance-survey
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April 26, 2009
Ordnance Survey - "new" business strategy announced
Triggered by the Budget, a "new" business strategy has been announced for Ordnance Survey.
(I put the "new" in quotes. The strategy has at least avoided the madness of a rumoured privatisation, but has not gone for the radical option of freeing the data to increase both use and consequent economic activity. Rather, having hit the internet and Google Maps icebergs, it is another attempt to rearrange the deckchairs on the Titanic).
Here are the headlines, followed by Michael Cross's Free Our Data view in the Guardian:
1) The OS Announcement
"The strategy aims to improve ease of access to geographic data and services for both commercial and non-commercial use, whilst also striving to maintain a balance with the need to stimulate innovation in the geographic information market and make data more widely available. This means that Ordnance Survey will continue to be self-funded and earn revenue by licensing its data, but it will make sure it is easier for customers and other businesses to access its data and services.
The strategy focuses on five key areas:
• Promoting innovation – with an enhanced free OS OpenSpace service to allow experimentation with digital information and a clear path from this service to greater commercialisation;
• Reforming Ordnance Survey’s licensing framework – so that it is much simpler to use Ordnance Survey data and services in other applications;
• Reducing costs over time – to ensure that Ordnance Survey continues to offer value-for-money;
• Supporting the sharing of information across the public sector – to enable better public policy and services;
• Creating an innovative trading entity – to explore commercial opportunities around providing a better platform for consumers to access Ordnance Survey products.
The new strategy will be developed further and implemented over the coming 12 months but the five key areas above are being opened up for comment from Ordnance Survey’s customers and other stakeholders."
Full details of the strategy and how to comment can be found at: http://strategy.ordnancesurvey.co.uk/
2) Guardian Free Our Data article: Government ducks free data decision (23 April 2009)
Michael Cross refers to the headline finding that "a model where a user pays a licence fee for OS data continues to be the most effective way of balancing the need to increase the availability of geographic information to the wider UK economy and society while maintaining the quality of OS data". He considers the extension of OS’s OpenSpace service as a win for the Free Our Data campaign. However, he believes that the new subsidiary company set up to “ensure that OS is sustainable for the medium term and value is generated for the taxpayer" implies that this "innovative trading entity" has been established with an eye to privatisation – although, he points out that Iain Wright, shareholder minister for OS says this is not the case.
The full article can be accessed at: http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/2009/apr/23/state-owned-digital-information
I'll be interested to hear your views. In particular, have you got opinions about OS OpenSpace?
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April 19, 2009
"Social Trends 2009" published
You probably saw some lurid headlines on Wednesday's newspapers - the latest Social Trends report has been published.
Amidst all the comment about social change in Britain, the report is often a good first start for finding out what are the key data sources for particular topics.
You can download it (or bits of it) free from: http://www.statistics.gov.uk/socialtrends39/
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April 9, 2009
UK Statistics Authority report on migration statistics
This report has just been published. It is policy stuff, rather than providing new stats now, but its recommendations (Pages 8-11) reflect our views on the need for an address register, & more use being made of government administrative data:
"We recommend that, in the light of the complex dependencies involved, discussions about matters such as the future of the Census beyond 2011, the longer term maintenance of a national address register, related developments (such as identity cards and a population register) and the best way to improve migration statistics, should now be taken forward together at the highest level. Discussions should involve the Statistics Authority and ONS and the relevant government departments – notably HM Treasury, the Cabinet Office, Department for Communities and Local Government, Home Office, Department for Work and Pensions, and the devolved administrations."
You can download the full report at:
http://www.statisticsauthority.gov.uk/reports---correspondence/reports/migration-statistics--interim-report.pdf
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April 8, 2009
European Geodemographics Conference - 1 April - Presentations now available
This MRS conference broke new ground, looking at the availability of demographic data across Europe.
The presentations are now available on the MRS website at: http://www.mrs.org.uk/networking/cgg/euro_conference_prog.htm
A report on the conference – including the action points for the future – will be posted on the website in the next couple of weeks and there will be an article in the June issue of GeoConnexion.
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March 18, 2009
Google Street View
Google Street View - providing recent photos - has just been released: http://maps.google.co.uk/ There's coverage of Greater London and c.20 other cities. Drag the person icon onto the road that you want to see.
Early reactions from DUG members:
"Already tested it out in Manchester - very impressive - will make mapping exact city centre locations much more accurate."
"We were looking at this this morning, looks fab ..we have been virtually wandering around Nottingham and Edinburgh."
"We had an enjoyable 5 minutes finding Tony Blair's house and discovering that they haven't pixellated the policeman's face outside. Google seems to hit the nail everytime at the moment !!!"
"We spent a good 20 minutes on this earlier - absolutely fantastic stuff - love the zoom feature, the 360 toggle, and there is a good coverage across a lot of the major towns and cities (and Scunthorpe). Picture quality and load rate seems to be very impressive."
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March 10, 2009
Availability of services at Output Area level
Here’s news of a new dataset from the Commission for Rural Communities (in England):
“Service availability and accessibility has been a key rural policy issue for many years. In order to monitor changing levels of service availability, this indicator combines datasets that show where outlets of particular services can be found, with postcode level information on the distribution of households to calculate numbers of households within distance of key service indicators.”
Looking at the link: http://www.ruralcommunities.gov.uk//projects/ruralservicesseriesdata/overview
• The input data includes the locations of banks, building societies, ATMs, supermarkets, pubs, etc.
• The output data appears to be for all Output Areas, not just rural ones (the data file is very large)
• The website includes some maps
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March 5, 2009
Guardian - Free Our Data - The price of un-free data: one-off census address list will cost £12m
Michael Cross, writing in The Guardian, is adding to the pressure for the ONS's 2011 Census address file to be made freely available:
"The cost of creating a national list of addresses for the next census has risen to £12m, the government has admitted. The figure – £2m up on previous estimates – is the latest revelation of the true cost of "unfree" data across the economy....The Office for National Statistics has to build its own address database for the 2011 census in England and Wales (Scotland has its own parallel exercise) because none of the three existing, state-owned address databases is comprehensive enough.......Attempts to create a unified list have failed because of arguments about intellectual property. The three list-owners – local authorities, Ordnance Survey and Royal Mail – all treat address lists as their commercial assets."
See Michael's article at: http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/2009/mar/05/free-data-addresses
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March 4, 2009
Power of Information Taskforce Report published
This report (written by some influential people in government) has just been published.
It calls for action in several areas where the Taskforce believes significant improvements can be made to government's use of digital technologies. These include:
* freeing up the UK's mapping and address data for use in new services.
* ensuring that public sector information is made as simple as possible for people to find and use.
Looking at Recommendation 7 in particular:
"It is the Taskforce's view that 'freeing up' geospatial data should be a priority. The Ordnance Survey requires urgent reform. Recent announcements of cost reductions at the Ordnance Survey point the way to wider reforms. This reform should include at a minimum:
* Basic geographic data such as electoral and administrative boundaries, the location of public buildings, etc should be available for (re)use free of charge to all.
* There should be simple, free access to general mapping and address data for modest levels of use by any user.
* Voluntary and community organisations pursuing public policy objects should benefit from straightforward standard provisions for ensuring access to geospatial data at all levels of use.
* Licensing conditions should be simplified and standardised across the board and, for all but the heaviest levels of use, should be on standard terms and conditions and should not depend on the intended use or the intended business model of the user.
* The OpenSpace API, similar to but currently a constrained version of Google Maps, should become the primary delivery point for the Ordnance Survey's services.
* Creation of a freely available single definitive address and postcode [file] available for the UK for (re)use."
All this is heading in our direction (albeit in difficult economic & political times).
Read more at http://poit.cabinetoffice.gov.uk/poit/
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January 28, 2009
Experian in the news
Here's a story in yesterday's Times - "Lord Taylor tried to aid credit-rating agencies access to business" - which includes mention of Experian.
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/politics/article5601428.ece
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January 24, 2009
How geodemographics is being applied across an ever expanding Europe
MRS CGG Conference - 1 April 2009, London
This year's Market Research Society Census & Geodemographics Group conference focuses on European data, and on how analytical techniques such as geodemographics are being used across Europe to help organisations to optimise their definitions of target markets.
This will be considered from a number of perspectives, ranging from data availability through to business applications, and will drive towards setting an agenda of priority actions required to fill existing gaps in the European data landscape. The programme includes speakers from CACI, Eurodirect, & Experian.
For full details and to book your place, see: http://www.mrs.org.uk/networking/cgg/euro_conference.htm
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January 21, 2009
Dwelling stock by council tax band, 2007 - statistics for small areas
(From a message to DUG Contacts)
Data for Neighbourhood Renewal has alerted me to the following new statistics now available on ONS's Neighbourhood Statistics website:
* Dwelling stock by council tax band (Updated for 2007) - down to Output Area (OA) level for England & Wales: http://www.data4nr.net/resources/53/
We now have datasets for each year since 2001, which in principle enables the tracking of changes in numbers of dwellings and their status (Bands A-H) for very small areas.
If you've done any analysis, I'll be pleased to hear.
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January 8, 2009
Guardian - Free Our Data - Royal Mail is wiping many rural homes off its postcode database
(From a message to DUG Contacts)
Here's Michael Cross's latest article in today's Guardian:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/2009/jan/08/scotland-applecross-royal-mail-highlands-paf-postcode-address-file
It includes:
"Royal Mail says it has a policy of removing addresses from the database when houses are unoccupied. "If the postie can no longer reach the delivery point, or if a house is obviously completely unoccupied, the postie informs us and the address is removed from the PAF. If it later becomes occupied, it would be put back on""
He then goes on to point to the feuding over address files between Royal Mail, Ordnance Survey and local government.
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December 21, 2008
Members' Locations - latest news
(From a message to DUG Contacts)
I'm pleased to let you know that our new member Boots is planning to join in our initiative to share information about locations, and that we are also planning quarterly updates.
For the record, the current list of sharers is:
* Abbey
* Argos
* Boots
* Co-op
* John Lewis
* M&S
* Sainsbury's
In addition, Tesco have pointed me to a SatNav link which may be helpful:
http://www.tesco.com/storeLocator/satnav_download/
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December 18, 2008
The Times 18 Dec 2008 - Analysis: Why retail figures don't add up
(From a message to DUG Contacts)
Following our discussion at our Awayday, I've been alerted more doubts about ONS's retail stats.
Here's the link:
http://business.timesonline.co.uk/tol/business/industry_sectors/retailing/article5364630.ece
[This was the first message on our new website]