Archive for April, 2011
.id recently completed population forecasts to 2031 for the Rockhampton Region in Queensland. Funded by the Rockhampton Regional Council, the forecasts are designed to inform Council, community groups, investors, business, students and the general public about what is driving change in the region and what the future population will look like.
At training sessions for profile.id and economy.id, we often get asked how to interpret some of the data presented in these tools. We suggest a simple but powerful technique called “dominant-emerging” analysis as a really good way to make sense of the data. It is based on asking two questions about any area.
- What role does it play within its region? 2. How is it changing?
Earlier this month, Ford (USA) released a list of what it considers to be the 25 “most prepared” cities in the USA for electric vehicles. How would your city stack up?
Source: Ford
Probably the most radical change in the new ABS geography is the move to SA2s (“Statistical Area Level 2” – another imaginative name…). These replace Statistical Local Areas (SLAs), which were always a bit misunderstood. This is the third part in my series on the new ABS geography.
Here at .id we’ve just finished our first population forecast for a remote area, the Shire of Roebourne, WA, and I was fortunate enough to be able to travel there recently to launch the forecast and run a training session. Here are my impressions of a remote, mining boom-town.
As part of the new statistical geography called the ASGS (see earlier blog – The new geography standard – what is it and how does it affect me?), the ABS is fundamentally changing the boundaries on which Census data is distributed. It is replacing the Census Collection District with a new unit, called, rather uninspiringly, the SA1, or Statistical Area Level 1. How will this affect Census analysis and in particular, time series?
The population of the Latrobe Valley has undergone a remarkable transformation in recent years. Throughout the 1990s, the main story was one of decline, but today the picture is completely different. What factors are behind this turnaround?
We commonly get asked how homeless people are counted in the Census. Many councils have specific policies addressing the needs of the homeless, and accurate data is difficult to come by. The short answer is, yes, they are counted in the Census, but it is hard to separate them out from the rest of the population.
