Indyref 2014: results map and downloadable data

This page is the result of a little overnight mapping while I watched the Scottish Independence Referendum on 18/19 September 2014. You can explore the results in the map below or download the raw data at the bottom of the page.

I'll add to the map as results come out, but if you click on Glasgow or Edinburgh you'll see that I've loaded in some pretend data for now. You'll also see that in the clickable info windows you can scroll down and download the underlying data table and geographic shapefile (I'll make this link live once all results are in). Most areas are red now as they have no data...

Independence Referendum Results Map (full screen version)

National overview map with local area drop-down list

You can access the raw data from the infowindow when you click on the map or by using the links below. Feel free to use this for mapping and exploring the results.

Data table - this is a basic excel table with the the results, including % yes, % no, turnout, area codes and so on.

Shapefile (for GIS users) - this should work fine. You just need to unzip it and add it to the GIS of your choice.

KML- you can download the KML file from either of the map tabs (the ones with the little red map pin icons) at this link.


Small disclaimer: I put these together overnight as the results were coming in. I have checked them for errors but if you spot any problems let me know and I'll fix them.

Indyref 2014: the electorate, area-by-area map

I've blogged previously here about the 32 council areas of Scotland and their populations but this post is specifically about the total electorate for the Scottish Independence Referendum held on Thursday 18 September 2014. I've put this online as a reminder to myself (and others) of the number of people registered to vote nationally and in each area because the results will come in on a council-by-council basis through the early hours of 19 September. In total, there are 4,285,323 registered voters across Scotland (97% of those eligible). But where are they all? See the map below for details of this by clicking on an area - or click the link below the map to view a drop-down list of areas.

View full screen or view a map with drop-down area list

So, if you don't know your Clackmannanshire from your Angus, or your East Ayrshire from your East Dunbartonshire, this little map should help. Many people I know here in England are less than familiar with the exact location or attributes of Scottish local authorities - as are many people in Scotland - so this is really just a visual guide. The results are expected to emerge between 2am and 6am, so we'll be able to do our sums through the night! You can view the underlying data table here.

Another very interesting dimension to the referendum - apart from the outcome, the 'don't knows', the level of engagement and all sorts of other things - is the fact that 16 and 17 year olds are eligible to vote. The total numbers are not very high - 109,533 - but given the closeness of the polling this group in particular could have a decisive role to play. Highland Council have provided a breakdown of the figures across Scotland, ranging from a high of 10,864 in Glasgow to 460 in Orkney. But, how likely are people in each area to vote either Yes or No? Chris Hanretty from the University of East Anglia has a short blog post on this, which is worth reading - plus a nice graphic.

In total, 18% of registered voters were those intending to vote by post. This figure is pretty high and many people (my parents included) voted in this way before the Westminster machine came to life following the YouGov poll lead from last week.

Finally, one of the best things about the referendum is the fact that turnout is expected to be extremely high - perhaps in the region of 90%. When the results start coming in we'll have an idea of what kind of turnout we can expect and what the magic number is in terms of either Yes or No securing a majority. I've calculated this for turnout ranging from a high estimate of 95% to a low of 70%, as below. The second column shows how many votes would be cast under each level of turnout and the final column shows the '50% +1' figure that would secure a majority for either side.

Buckle up, etc.

Buildings of Scotland in one layer

This is a short post to provide an update on a little mapping project that's been on the back burner for a while. With the release of Ordnance Survey open data products a couple of years ago, people have been using the buildings layer in the Vector Map District product to clip larger geographic areas and show only those areas where people live - or, more accurately, where there are buildings - as below.

This is what the layer looks like

The data come in Ordnance Survey tiles and as anyone who has worked with this knows, it's inevitable that the area you want to map will fall at the intersection of four tiles. Well, it sometimes seems this way. To solve this problem, I've patched together the buildings layer for all tiles and made it available for download in the Data section of the site. I've done this because I wanted to have a ready-made layer for using in my work and I'm sharing it because I know others might find it useful. The file, when unzipped, is about 134MB so it's not too big. Anyone using this just needs to know that it's a fairly generalised file and not individual building outlines. You'll see that when you zoom in the buildings have been merged together in many places (as below). That's all for now.

The centre of the universe