The use of GIS for the spatial and temporal integration of UK Statistics

Abstract

The Office for National Statistics has responsibility for collecting and producing statistics for a wide range of demographic, social and economic topics across much of the UK. Recently a growing desire to integrate statistics from across these subject areas and to some extent with those from outside agencies, combined with customer demands for more flexible and responsive outputs, have lead to a fundamental review of how ONS data is referenced. An effective referencing strategy for ONS needs to enable the production of accurate, responsive, flexible outputs as well as coping with the problems posed by the UK's complex and ever changing geography. The strategy that is currently being investigated is a move away from the traditional building block approach to a solution where individual survey observations are allocated accurate co-ordinate references. This type of referencing, combined with the use of GIS and digital boundaries, should provide ONS with the flexibility and responsiveness to change required. This paper describes the problems associated with the existing referencing system, the strategy which has been proposed to replace it and the benefits which should flow from this approach.