Great Britain 2022: Normal Resident Population Density Map

Overview

This true* 3D map was created as an enclosure to my dissertation on semiology** and true 3D printed special constructions (Clarke, 2024). This enclosure was submitted with the dissertation in partial fulfilment of the Degree of Master of Science in Applied GIS, School of Geography and Planning, University of Sheffield. These 3D print files were requested by the course director Dr Ruth Hamilton and the final print was provided as an enclosure to my dissertation supervisor Dr Jacob MacDonald.

* True 3D is a term used to refer to hardcopy maps which are different to "3D maps". 3D Maps are instead photo, perspective view, or interactive simulation of a hardcopy 3D map (Knust and Buchroithner, 2014).

** Semiology is a branch of science that deals with communicating information using signs like graphs and maps (Bertin, 1983).

Visualisation:

Looking directly down on the XY plane like a flat map the features are projected using British National Grid ESPG:27700. All the blocks represent equal areas of 100,000 acres though cartographic simplification has affected how this looks in places. The whole of Great Britain is represented in the data, and the whole normal resident population is presented in the stacked block prisms. Some small areas are not shown such as populations of small islands, but their population has been included in the calculations. In all places the coastline has not been moved, so very small features could not be represented. The gaps help to establish the individual parts and to be able to see the origin of the Z-axis. The boundary of each stacked block is equidistant within the gap except at the edges where the the block is on the coastline.

Looking from the side, the Z-Axis shows prisms with a height representing population density. The scheduled filament changes have been used to establish bands that can be used to measure the actual population density in a stacked block.

The volume of a stacked block (population density * area) represents the total population.

The colours have been used to represent quartiles of the population. This means that 25% of the population were normally resident in the blue areas (the most densely populated blocks), 25% in the green areas and so on.

Print:

The four parts were printed over 40 hours 42 minutes and incorporated 96 mid print filament changes using 11 coloured filaments. Part D in blue is most fragile and required organic supports during printing.

Assembly:

Two small, stacked block prisms were completely disconnected from the rest of their part. These printed successfully without brim and were held in place on the lower part using a clear contact adhesive after the print was complete.

Source Data:

National Record of Scotland (2022) boundaries were combined with Scotland’s Census (2024) and mid-year 2022 population estimates for England and Wales (ONS, 2023 and 2024) to create a consistent 2022 normal resident population pattern for Great Britain. The final representation does not show the patterns using standard statistical geographies.

Copyright:

The use of the source data requires inclusion of this statement: 

Copyright National Records of Scotland, contained Ordnance Survey data, Crown copyright and database rights (2024) contains public sector information licenced under the open government license v3.0).

Non-commercial purposes are a requirement of a software license used.

As academic work, the associated dissertation is currently ungraded and unpublished.

This model and all component parts are CC BY-NC-ND provided they are not separated from the source data and associated copyright statements.

References:

Bertin, J. (1983) Semiology of Graphics. Translated from (French) by Berg, W.J. Redlands, California: ESRI Press.

Clarke, J. (2024) How can semiology and visual efficiency be applied to true 3D printed special constructions? A study of 3D printed maps using GIS. Sheffield: University of Sheffield. Unpublished.

Knust, C. and Buchroithner, M. (2014) ‘Principles and Terminology of True 3D Geovisualisation’, The Cartographic Journal, 51(3), pp. 191-202. Doi: https://doi.org/10.1179/1743277413Y.0000000038 .

National Records of Scotland (2022) 2022 Census Digital Boundaries. Available at: https://www.nrscotland.gov.uk/statistics-and-data/geography/our-products/census-datasets/2022-census/2022-census-digital-boundaries (Accessed: 9 June 2024).

Office for National Statistics (2023) ‘Output Areas (December 2021) Boundaries EW BFC’. Version 8. Available at: https://geoportal.statistics.gov.uk/datasets/ons::output-areas-december-2021-boundaries-ew-bfc-v8/ (Accessed: 9 June 2024). 

Office for National Statistics (2024) ‘Census Output Area Population Estimates’. Mid-2022 edn. Available at: https://www.ons.gov.uk/peoplepopulationandcommunity/populationandmigration/populationestimates/datasets/censusoutputareapopulationestimatessupportinginformation (Accessed: 9 June 2024).

Scotland’s Census (2024) ‘2022 output area data’, Table UV101b. Available at: https://www.scotlandscensus.gov.uk/documents/2022-output-area-data/ (Accessed: 9 June 2024).