Demonstration: Electoral Atlas for UK Westminster Constituencies

This atlas has been created for a subset of current UK Westminster Constituencies using our InstantAtlas software. Using this software you can create all kinds of similar graphical outputs for any set of electoral areas at any scale anywhere in the world.

This demo illustrates the power of delivering information graphically to present a range of electoral and political statistics. You can:

• present election results
• analyse differential turn-out rates
• understand socio-economic patterns
• highlight MP voting behaviour and expense budgets.

We have selected Scotland as a logical subset of UK constituencies. The atlas delivers a range of indicators (see list below) relevant to reviewing recent election results and on-going trends. It can be used for a wide range of purposes including:

• government and voluntary organisations seeking to encourage local democracy
• political parties looking to understand trends
• media and other bodies needing to communicate specific messages

Screenshot of full interactive atlas Screenshot of map-only atlas

To access the atlas:

There are 3 different atlas views all containing the same underlying selection of indicators like 'election majority 2005', 'MP expense claims 2006' and 'levels of deprivation'. When you open the atlas use the 'Data' button (top left of screen) to select different indicators and display them. The atlas views are available at:

• A full interactive atlas view (if you don't have it installed already you will need the free Adobe Flash Player ver 8 or higher - download this)
• A map-only atlas view (also requires Adobe Flash Player)
• A data table view presenting the indicators which support both atlases

The atlas is a demonstration of the capability of our InstantAtlas product to deliver politically relevant statistics in a form that makes them easy to analyse and understand. It highlights patterns and trends that may well be missed through other forms of presentation. InstantAtlas can produce high impact, presentation quality atlases in most languages for any electoral geography (local, national or international).

Details of specific indicators used in the demonstration for Scotland are provided below. We have used data available from public sources and provided source information. We make no guarantees on its accuracy and cannot be held liable for any actions resulting from its publication. The application should not be used for any live, operational purposes - it is intended to provide a demonstration of the capability of our InstantAtlas software.

The InstantAtlas product offers a number of different templates for delivering information of this kind. Depending on local factors such as the political geography and electoral method, you may find other templates are more appropriate. In particular the area profile template may be more suitable for creating a pure ‘election results’ atlas.

Example of our Area Profile atlas (Scottish Public Health Observatory)

The following publicly available indicators are made available in the atlas:

Election Results 2005

1. Party
2. Majority %

   Source: Richard Kimber's Political Science Resource site

3. Electorate % voted Conservative
4. Electorate % voted Labour
5. Electorate % voted Lib Dem
6. Electorate % voted SNP
7. Electorate % voted SSP
8. Electorate % voted Green
9. Electorate % voted Other

   Source: Scottish Parliament, SPICe Briefing Paper

Votes and Turn-out 2005

1. Votes Cast
2. Electorate Count

   Source: Scottish Parliament, SPICe Briefing Paper

3. Turn-out %

   Source: Richard Kimber's Political Science Resource site

Voter Change 2001 to 2005

1. Change % 2001-2005 Conservative
2. Change % 2001-2005 Labour
3. Change % 2001-2005 Lib-Dem
4. Change % 2001-2005 SNP
5. Change % 2001-2005 SSP
6. Change % 2001-2005 Other

   Source: Scottish Parliament, SPICe Briefing Paper

MPs Expenses 2006

1. Expenses all 2006
2. Expenses Car
3. Expenses Car 3rd party milage
4. Expenses Rail
5. Expenses Air
6. Expenses Bicycle
7. Expenses Other
8. Expenses per Household
9. Expenses per Head of Population
10. Measure of expenses by MP attendance Note: Total expenses divided by the Attendance statistic for MP voting participation

    Source: UK Parliament, Published Member Allowances 2005

MP Voter Behaviour 2006

1. MP Rebellions
2. MP Attendance

   Source: The Public Whip

Deprivation Levels 2006

1. Number of data zones in worst 20% Note: The number of 20% most deprived Data Zones for each Westminster constituency
2. Measure of deprivation Note: The number of 20% most deprived Data Zones in each constituency divided by the total number of Data Zones in each constituency expressed as a percentage
3. Rank of deprivation Note: A ranking (1 to 59) of all constituencies by above ‘Measure of deprivation’, 59 being the constituency ranked as most deprived (having the highest percentage of Data Zones in the worst 20% of all Data Zones)

   Source: Scottish Executive, Scottish Index of Multiple Deprivation

Demographics 2001

1. Number of households
2. Total population

   Source: Scottish Executive / General Register Office for Scotland, Scotland's Census Results On-Line