![\"census2011\"](\"http:\/\/mappinglondon.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/10\/census2011.png\")
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One of my earliest projects at UCL, back in 2009, was to create a customisable online map of all the 2001 Census key statistics. The result was CensusProfiler<\/a> which took many months to produce, not least because I was learning about online mapping as I created it.<\/p>\n So I was pleased to discover James Trimble’s UK Data Explorer and more specifically its view of the 2011 Census for London<\/a>, the data for which was released earlier this year.<\/p>\n James has created the map using R, D3 and Leaflet, and has based it on the Open Atlas Project<\/a> which was created recently by Alex Singleton, who previously was my boss at UCL when I was working on CensusProfiler!<\/p>\n The map is not without its flaws – it rigidly sticks to categories that vary by at least 1% – the means that very subtle small (but interesting) population results may be hidden. The list of variables has also not been curated – instead, you get all 400 odd key statistics, including some which, for London, have a value of 0% across all areas. It also took me a while to realise that the numbers in the key are normally percentages – the crucial part of the caption being cut off sometimes by long census variable names.<\/p>\n The process of “curating” a large dataset for an area like this is something which a colleague of mine, Richard Milton, has been pondering<\/a>, as part of his work on the GeoTalisman project.<\/p>\n Nevertheless, the site is a simple, quick, effective and attractive way to explore the key statistics from the 2011 census, with an underlying OpenStreetMap-based map providing the necessary context.<\/p>\n