Local Futures

John Fisher, Director

Local Futures Group

Vision &

strategy

Monitoring/

evaluationBaselining

current

conditions

Future

prospects

Local

Knowledge

Customer

Knowledge

Place

Profiles

SMART

Observatories

Strategic Insight

Local FuturesProducts and services

www.localfutures.com

Local Knowledge

Local Knowledge

Developed by the Local Futures Group,

Local Knowledge is a powerful geographical information

system for use in local research and analysis.

Incorporating some of the latest thinking on competitiveness

and sustainable development, it provides researchers and

policy makers with an unrivalled decision-support tool that

is interactive and easy-to-use

Local Knowledge helps you to

• Understand current conditions

Range of indicators – economic, social, environmental

Range of geographies – regional, sub-regional, LAD, ward,

lower level SOA

Interactive toolkit – map, rank, compare (bar charts), profile

(spider charts), tables, nearest neighbours, trend

Comprehensive metadata

• Anticipate future change

Future drivers of change

Scenarios for the future

Competitiveness

SustainabilityCohesion

ECONOMY

ENVIRONMENTSOCIETY

ECONOMY

ENVIRONMENTSOCIETY

Economic

scale

Industrial

structure

Productivity

Economic

growth

Skills &

qualifications

Business &

enterprise

Labour

marketOccupations

Demographics

Prosperity Housing

Crime

Deprivation

& inequality Health

Commercial

propertyTransport &

connectivity

Environmental

sustainability

Natural

environment

Local

amenities

Content

• National coverage of 1,800 indicators, from 130 different sources

• Proprietory data– Composite measures and scores, knowledge economy,

creative places, local amenities, quality of life, natural environment, sustainability

• Typologies of place– Output Area Classification

• Data Packs

• Private Space– Thematic

– Cosmetic

Hierarchy of indicators

Composite score

Headline indicators

All indicators

20

150

1,500

Geeks

Wonks

“He uses statistics as a drunk would

use a lampost

– for support, not for illumination.”

Spatial coverage

national

regional

sub-regional

Local Authority District

ward

Lower level SOA

Census Output Area

Subscriber Home Page

Easy-to-use

Press build

Metadata, downloa

d data, print

Output

Select application

Select spatial

level Region, sub-

region, district, wa

rd, LLSOA, COA

Select indicator

(category, sub

category)

Copy/Save

Reset option

Report CardsReport Cards

provide a

summary

analysis of local

conditions. They

provide a quick

and easy way of

analysing

strengths and

weaknesses

within areas.

Based on

composite Local

Futures

measures, areas

are given an A-E

score based on

their performance.

They also highlight

how areas perform

within a

local, regional and

national context.

Click on theme

to display a

spider chart

showing

performance on

related indicators

Spider charts

Spider charts

graphically display

performance on sets

of indicators. They

are designed to

allow the

characteristics of an

area to be analysed

from a variety of

different

perspectives.

Actual and percentile

scores are displayed

in the supporting

summary table.

Click on one of

the ‘Filter

indicators’ buttons

to select your own

indicators

Select indicators

for a range of

different themes

Display statistical

nearest neighbours

or overlay the

performance of other

areas by clicking on

‘add further area’.

Create a spider

chart by clicking

on the Profile

application in the

bar.

Add other areas

or identify nearest

neighbours

Ranked tables

This application

allows you to rank

the performance

of areas on a

specific indicator.

National averages

are displayed at

the foot of the

table.

Use the filter

option to present

the findings for

areas within a

specific region or

sub-region.

Regional/sub-

regional rankings

are displayed

alongside national

rankings

Rankings can be

used alongside

actual scores and

averages to assess

and monitor relative

performance.

Download full data

set into a CSV file

Create a ranked

table by clicking

on the Ranking

application in the

drop-down menu.

Compare Charts

Benchmark local

area performance

on a range of

economic, social

and environmental

indicators using the

compare

application. Areas

can be selected

from across Britain

and compared on

individual indicators

or on groups of

indicators.

Data is

displayed in a

supporting table

Create a bar chart

clicking on the

Compare

application in the

drop-down menu.

Tables

Create a table of

indicators by

clicking on the

Table application in

the drop-down

menu.

Performance can

be assessed on a

range of indicators

and for a number of

different areas. The

application allows

you to bring

together thematic

groups of

indictors, exploring

relationships

between variables

or quickly

summarising an

area’s

characteristics.

Re-rank the table by

clicking on the

different indicators

Scatter charts

Create a scatter

chart by clicking

on the Scatter

application in

the drop-down

menu.

Charts plotting

the national

performance of

individual areas

on pairs of

indicators.

The

performance of

neighbouring

areas within a

sub-region or

region can also

be displayed.

The R2

indicates the

strength of

the

relationship.

Change

Change can be

compared over a

number of years for

up to 15 different

areas.

Create a graph

displaying

underlying trends

by clicking the

Change application

in the drop-down

menu.

Local area

forecasts are

available for some

indicators.Underlying data is

displayed in the

supporting table

Mapping

The mapping

application sets the

performance of an

area within a

broader

geographical

context. It provides

a quick and user

friendly way of

creating high

impact, customised

maps.

Zoom into an

area, display

place names or

provide a key

Create a map by

clicking on the

Mapping

application in the

drop-down menu.

Display thematic

layers

Display OAC

classification

Display cosmetic

layers

Other

applications

Select spatial

level

Zoom to

region, sub-

region or

district

Display

information

associated

with buildings

or sites by

clicking on

point

Display one or

more

indicators and

adjust

transparency

using sliding

scale

Display OAC

classification

Display

boundary files

Display

building or site

data

Copy and

save map

Print

map

Download

data

Control transparency of base map

using sliding scale

Click on icons to display

associated information

Map comprises base

layer, thematic layer and cosmetic

layer

Select

indicator(s)

Metadata

Local Knowledge Home Page

Local Knowledge Home Page

Tutorials

Browsers & settings

Customer Knowledge

Customer Knowledge Home Page

Output Area Classification System (OAC)

• Geodemographic system

• Developed by ONS

• Free, open and transparent

• Limited support from OAC User Group

(affiliated to RSS)

7 Supergroups

21 Groups

52 Sub-groups

OAC Groups

Thematic maps

Thematic maps

Thematic maps

Charts

Charts

Charts

Spider charts

Ranked tables

Tables

Resources and support

• OAC online

• Supergroup, Group, Subgroup descriptions

• Access to technical papers

• User guides

• OAC coder

• Local Data estimates

• Advice and support

Local data estimates - examples

• Expenditure and Food Survey– Total household income

– Household income from different sources

– Household income from benefits

– Household expenditure on pensions, life insurance, savings, investment

– Household expenditure on food, transport and communications, cultural activities, fuel

• British Population Survey– Household income

– Internet access

– Demographics

– Qualifications

– Economic activity

– Home tenure

Place Profiles

Place Profiles

http://www.localfutures.com/PPTest

Place Profiles

• Computer generated reports

• Analysing local conditions on 20 different

topics – economic, social, environmental

• Benchmarked nationally, regionally, sub-

regionally

• Covering sub-regional, district, ward and

LLSOA level

140,000 different reports!

Sub-region District Ward LLSOA

Economy

Economic performance √ √

Industrial Structure √ √ √

Business and Enterprise √ √ √

Skills and qualifications √ √ √

Labour Market √ √ √

Society

Age √ √ √ √

Ethnicity √ √ √ √

Households √ √ √ √

Migration and Change √ √

Occupations √ √ √

Prosperity √ √

Deprivation √ √ √ √

Health √ √ √

Crime √ √

Environment

Housing √ √

Commercial Floospace √ √ √

Transport and Communications √ √ √

Amenities √ √

Natural Environment √ √

Future developments

• Bespoke PPs

• Including locally sourced data

• Report templates for locally designed reports

SMART Observatories

SMART Observatories

• Adapted national versions of Local Knowledge

OR

• Local Information Systems

– Public facing

– Ward, LLSOA and COA level

– Local Futures + locally sourced data

– Customised to meet local needs

Place

Profiles

Reports

Report

Templates

Online

Service

Economy

Economic Performance

Industrial Structure

Bus & enterprise

Skills & quals

Labour Market

Society

Age

Ethnicity

Households

Migration & change

Occupations

Prosperity

Deprivation

Health

Crime

Environment

Housing

Commercial Property

Connectivity

Amenities

Natural environment

OAC Classification

Data

Regional

Subregional

Nuts 3

District

Ward

LLSOA

COA

Spatial

Levels

Map

Rank

Compare

Profile

Table

Graph

Scatter

Tools

Subscription

service

SMART

Observatories

Private

Space

Products

Local

Knowledge

Customer

Knowledge

Services

Online Services

Local

Knowledge

Customer

Knowledge

Place

Profiles

SMART

Observatories

Strategic Insight

Products and services

Benefits

Efficiency

SavingsCommon

Evidence base

Joined-up

Thinking

Online access

Latestdata

Single

Source

Easy-to-use

Data

visualisationTraining

and

support

www.localfutures.com

www.localfutures.com