The 32 Scottish Council Areas

At present, there are 32 council areas in Scotland. I say 'at present' because over the past few years there has been talk of either merging some of them, or all of them, though in November 2012 this was emphatically denied by the Scottish Government. The 32 council areas will also serve as the areas in which the votes will be counted in for the independence referendum on 18 September 2014. Coincidentally, 32 is also the number of Boroughs in London but Scotland's population is lower than London: 5,295,403 compared to 8,173,94. They vary greatly in relation to their size, population and characteristics. The image below shows all 32 ordered by geographical size.

Scottish Council Areas, 2014

The Highland council area is by far the largest, at over 11,000 square miles (c.30,000 sq km). Lots of people like to point out that this is about the same size (even slightly bigger) than Belgium. However, as of the 2011 Census the population was 232,132, which equates to roughly 9 people per square kilometre. At the other end of the scale, Dundee is the smallest council area geographically, covering only 26 square miles (67 sq km). The population of Dundee in 2011 was 147,268 so this gives a population density of 2,457 per square kilometre, the second highest in Scotland.

The most densely populated council area is also the most highly populated - Glasgow's population in 2011 was 593,245, with a population density of 3,395 people per square kilometre. This sounds quite crowded but actually is relatively spacious. In Manila, the most densely populated city in the world, population density is about 43,000 per square kilometre and in Delhi (with over 11 million people) population density is over 25,000 per square kilometre. 

Current population estimates put Scotland's population at 5,327,700 as of mid-2013, which is a rise of 14,100 on the previous year's estimate. This was due to a net inflow of around 10,000 in addition to births outnumbering deaths during the period. Scotland's population is at its highest ever level. You can read more about this here. A more detailed breakdown of current estimates for council areas can be found in this document.

Finally, the report that led to media reporting of the merger or abolition of Scottish council areas is worth a read. Their proposals for re-structured council areas are in a Table on p. 11 and include such ideas as merging the three current Ayrshire council areas and merging the two Lanarkshire ones. Many others (e.g. Glasgow, Highland, Fife would remain the same).

Sites of Special Scientific Interest

On the Data link above, you'll find details of Scottish Natural Heritage's data which you can download and play around with. This includes details of Scotland's Sites of Special Scientific Interest. These areas are described by SNH in the following way:

"Sites of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI) are those areas of land and water (to the seaward limits of local authority areas) that Scottish Natural Heritage (SNH) considers to best represent our natural heritage - its diversity of plants, animals and habitats, rocks and landforms, or a combinations of such natural features. "

I decided to make a web map of this so that people can more easily access the information - see below. To find out a little bit more about each SSSI, just click on it. You can pan and zoom around the map in the normal way. I've also included a link below the map to a full screen version. When you click on an area, you'll see that it's classified in one of three ways: 'biological', 'geological' or 'mixed'. There are SSSIs all over Scotland but you'll notice that a vast number of them are in the north of Scotland. Many are also along the coast or other water features inland. The furthest north would appear to be Hermaness in Shetland and the furthest south is the Mull of Galloway.

Full screen version

Finally, I've added a static map below which shows all SSSIs - this time coloured by category.

Click for full size version

Data Zones of Scotland

The idea of writing a blog about the Scottish statistical geography known as the 'Data Zone' seems like a very boring one. Somewhat niche, you might say. But it's probably a bit more interesting than you might think - particularly if you're into maps, geography and data. If you do any work on population or data in Scotland, you will probably have heard of the 'Data Zone'. They are, according to the Scottish Government, 'the key small-area statistical geography in Scotland'. If you're reading this then there is a chance you already know that there are 6,505 of them. At the time of the 2011 Census, the total population of Scotland was 5,295,403 so this gives an average of 814 people per Data Zone. The highest population of any Data Zone in 2011 was 8,698 - up from 4,510 in the 2006 mid-year estimate - in an area of Dunfermline to the west of the M90. See the table below for more information on Data Zone populations. If you want to know more about how they were created, read about it here.

Scotland's most populous Data Zone in 2011

DZs by population

Five Data Zones in Scotland had a population of zero at the time of the 2011 Census. Four of these are in Glasgow and one is in Edinburgh. Only one had a population of zero from the 2006 mid-year estimates; a small area in Castlemilk, as you can see below. Demolition has obviously played a part in all of this.

DZ in Castlemilk, Glasgow

DZ in Balornock, Glasgow (Red Road flats area)

DZ in Sighthill, Glasgow

DZ near Ibrox Stadium, Glasgow

DZ in Muirhouse, Edinburgh

This variation in population is also evident in relation to the geographical size of Data Zones. The biggest Data Zone in Scotland is larger in area than Hong Kong (see below) - which has a population of more than 7 million in an area compared to the Highland Data Zone of S01003915, which in 2011 had 608 people. Hardly surprising that parts of the Highlands are sparsely populated, but this Data Zone also dwarfs nearly all other DZs in Scotland - in fact, the largest one has room for the smallest 5,164 Data Zones, but probably not the infrastructure, housing or services... I've also superimposed the largest two Data Zones on to Glasgow and Edinburgh, just to give you an idea of the scale.

Scotland's largest Data Zones by area

Scotland's largest DZ over Glasgow/Edinburgh

I think I've used up all my goodwill, so I'll stop here. Next time you're at a party and there's a lull in the conversation, I recommend bringing this subject up. 

What is this blog all about?

This blog is all about maps of Scotland and Scottish things. I decided to start it because in my 10+ years living in England I started to get a bit out of touch with things in my native land and since I'm a bit of a mapping and data boffin this blog would be a good way to keep up with things whilst also using my skills in a productive way. It's probably also a bit of a task-avoidance blog but at least it's informative.

I've written a couple of academic papers which either focus on Scottish themes or are explicitly Scottish in focus (exhibit 1), and I've also done a bit of interactive mapping of Scotland as well (exhibit 2) but to date most of my work has focused on England because that's where I've lived since 2003. Since I'm originally from the Highlands and have also lived in Glasgow I do keep a close eye on what's going on north of the border. With this blog I hope to follow things more closely.

I have thought for some time that there aren't enough map blogs which focus on Scotland. London is well covered and I do a lot of non-Scottish stuff in my work so I thought it was about time to rectify things. Since this is a map blog, I need a map in each post so the one below is just to demonstrate the relative scale of the Highland Council area and London. The former has only around 230,000 people but is bigger than Wales and the latter is actually pretty small in comparison but has over 8 million people.

Most of the maps you'll find on the blog have been made using freely available open datasets, and you'll see the relevant attribution and sources on each map or blog. If you have any questions or requests, please feel free to get in touch - I don't have comments enabled on here but my e-mail address is easy to find.