Lesson video

Hello, my name is Mrs. Grey, and I'm so excited that you've decided to join me to learn geography today.

Today's lesson is in our unit of "Population: where do people live?" And our lesson title is, "GIS: analysing the population of the UK." By the end of the lesson, you will be able to use a GIS to analyse the distribution and structure of the UK's population.

There are some keywords that we'll come across in today's lesson.

They are population density, census, and GIS.

Population density is the number of people living in a defined area, for example, 300 people per square kilometre.

A census is the official collection of data about a whole population.

GIS, or geographic information system, is a computer system that captures and displays geographic data to help understand spatial patterns.

Today's lesson is split into two learning cycles.

The first, how could GIS be used to analyse the UK population? And the second, how can GIS analyse changes in the UK population? Let's take a look at our first learning cycle.

How can GIS be used to analyse the UK population? The UK is often regarded as a crowded island, but the population varies across its area.

How do you think the population density and the age of the people living here varies between the places in these images? Let's have a little look at these two images.

How do you think population density and age of people living there is different? Now, a GIS can be used to visualise and analyse the UK's population.

The Office for National Statistics, or ONS, has developed a GIS using census data that allows us to visualise and analyse the UK's population.

Now the UK census happens every 10 years.

It's mandatory that all households fill in the census form so that we have an accurate record of the population.

With the ONS census maps, we can visualise and analyse the population of England and Wales.

So let's watch a video now to show how we do that.

This video goes through how to visualise and analyse population data using Office for National Statistics census map.

Now you can see on the left hand side there's a menu, where it talks about the different census maps.

So this one here looks at the different types of maps.

We're gonna stick with the census 2021.

And we can also see that you can change the area here, so you can type an area into here and search.

We're gonna look at England and Wales at the moment, but you can type in different areas in there.

And there are also different topics that you can look at.

So there's a variety of different topics here that you can click on and look at.

So we're gonna start by looking at this population topic.

So we're gonna click here on population.

And then that brings up all these different layers that we can click on.

So can you see here on the left hand side, we've got age, age of arrival in the UK, country of birth, and if we keep looking down, we can see all these different layers that we can click on.

So we can click on one of those different layers and it'll add it onto the map.

So you can see here where it says "select a topic to visualise".

That means we're gonna click on one of those layers and we're gonna be able to visualise it.

We're gonna be able to see this different information appear on this map.

Now the reason we've got all of these different topics is because these were all different questions on the census.

So as people have filled in that census, as they've answered those questions, then that information's all been collated here.

So we've got information about everybody on all these different topics, so we can find out data for the whole country by clicking on one of these topics.

It's got the answer from the census all pulled together, and we can look at that information for the whole country.

I'm going to scroll down and have a look at all of these different topics.

Now you can scroll down using the scroll wheel of the mouse, or you can click on this bar here, and move it up and down.

And I'm gonna go down until we find population density.

Can you see that there? Population density.

And I'm gonna click on that, and look what happens to the map.

So when I click on that, we now have a population density map for England and Wales.

And can you see all of these different colours relate to this scale along the bottom.

So we can see the population density for the whole of England and Wales.

And if I zoom out, you can see it a little bit clearly, and we can move the map up and down so that we can look at the different areas.

Now you can see that the darker the colour, the more densely populated the area is.

The lighter the colour, the more sparsely populated the area is.

So unsurprisingly, we've got these big cities.

Look here, we've got London, which has got that darker colour, that's more densely populated.

Those cities are more densely populated than the other areas.

And we can zoom in and see that information in a little bit more detail if we want to.

And then if you hover over these different areas, it tells us the actual population density for those different areas on the key at the bottom.

So if you hover over a particular area, you can see here that the population density of West Northamptonshire is 309 persons per square kilometre.

Yeah, if we hover over another one here, the population density of Hackney, there in London, is 13,593 persons per square kilometre.

So you can actually see all of this information and all of that specific detail.

You can scroll up and down, and you can zoom in and out to see places in a little bit more detail.

And there's so much more that we can do as well.

There's so much more information that we can find out about the population.

So if we look back here on the left hand side, if I click back here on population, then I can look at some other information.

So now I'm gonna scroll down and I'm gonna go to median age, where it says median age, and click on that.

And now I've got some information about the median age for all of those different areas.

And can you see the darker colours that shows an older median age? And the lighter colours show a younger median age.

And can you see these cities, these big cities, London, Birmingham, that had a high population density, they've actually got the younger people living there.

They've got a younger median age.

So we can click, look at this one here.

The median age for people in Dorset, that's 51 years, and that's quite high.

That's a darker colour.

Let's have a look at a lighter one.

If we pick this one here.

The median age for people in Cambridge is 31 years, and that's one of the lighter colours.

So that's quite a young median age.

So we can see that the darker areas tend to be rural areas away from the cities, but there's also a pattern of where all the other darker areas are.

Can you see? A lot of darker areas along the coastline.

So the coastline tends to have the more elderly populations.

You can see all of these different areas here along the coastline, that have an older population.

So we can use this map to analyse all of this different information, and then we can use our geographical understanding to think about why that might be the case, why we might get younger populations in the cities and why we might get older populations around the coastline.

So there's lots and lots of different things we can do with these maps.

So, so far we've been looking at England and Wales on quite a big scale, but we can actually change the area and look in a little bit more detail in a localised area.

So if you have a look at this menu on the left hand side, the place here where it says "Area: England and Wales", if we click on this arrow, this brings open this option for us to type in this box, and you could type in a particular area to see it in a little bit more detail.

So I'm going to type in York, and look, it zooms in there on the whole area of York.

And you're able to see, actually, the differences in median age across York.

You can see in a little bit more detail the different ages and how they are across the whole of York.

Now we can also go back to this menu here on the left hand side and click back again on population.

And we could scroll down and go back to population density.

And now we can see the population density of York.

So this is a really, really useful tool.

Really, really clever for us to be able to analyse lots and lots of bits of data for the whole of England and Wales, but also for specific areas.

Again, you can really zoom in on particular areas and drill down and see that information, and there's lots and lots of different things that you can see information for.

Now, you'll notice that we've only been looking here at England and Wales, but census maps do also exist for Scotland and Northern Ireland.

If they are your areas, you'll be able to look at those.

So census maps also exist for Scotland, and you can have a look at all of that information as well, again.

And census maps also exist for Northern Ireland.

So you can see here, this area, again, you can look and you can analyse lots of different population for your local area.

So hopefully this has given you a really good introduction and some information about how we can use GIS to really analyse population.

A check then.

ONS census GIS map allows us to visualise what? England and Wales' population distribution? The relief of England and Wales? The climate of England and Wales? Or the median age of England and Wales' population? So pause the video, write down your answer, and then come back and let's see how you got on.

Okay.

How did you get on? ONS census GIS map allows us to visualise England and Wales' population distribution, and the median age of England and Wales' population.

Did you get those? Well done.

There is also a GIS that allows us to visualise and analyse the population of Scotland and Northern Ireland.

Now there are strengths and limitations with all GIS.

When GIS are created for a single purpose, they have less functionality than GIS designed to analyse lots of different categories of data.

For example, the layers are fixed, so we can't add our own data.

We can't change the transparency of layers to easily compare two sets of data.

We can't edit maps and save our work.

And labels or annotations cannot be added.

Another check for us now then.

True or false? It is a limitation if a GIS doesn't allow us to add labels and annotations.

Is that true or false? So pause the video, write down your answer, and then come back and let's see how you got on.

Okay, how did you get on? True or false? It is a limitation if a GIS doesn't allow us to add labels and annotations.

That's true.

Labels and annotations can help us present our interpretation and analysis of geographical patterns on the GIS.

We could use this as part of the field work writeup.

Did you get that? Well done.

Our first task of the lesson now then.

So open the link that's on the screen.

Complete the following tasks.

Locate "topic" in the menu bar, and select "population" and then "population density".

Look carefully and analyse the pattern of population density across England and Wales.

Locate "area" in the menu.

Click the down arrow and type in the name of your local area.

Look carefully and analyse the pattern of population density across your local area.

And then once you've done that, describe the population density for your local area.

The next task, locate "topic" in the menu bar and select "population" and then "median age".

Look carefully and analyse the pattern of median age across England and Wales.

And then once you've done that, describe how the median age varies across England and Wales.

So pause the video, work your way through the tasks, and make sure you read each point carefully and go through point by point.

And then once you've done, come back and let's see how you got on.

Okay, how did you get on? So this is an example of a population density map for a local area for York.

Describe the population density for your local area.

So let's look at the answer for York.

York has an average population density of 746 persons per square kilometre.

This is relatively sparsely populated compared to the rest of the UK.

The city centre is the most densely populated area of York, and population density decreases with distance from the city centre.

Your map showing the median age of England and Wales should look like this.

Describe how the median age varies across England and Wales.

And this is the answer to that question.

"Median age varies across England and Wales.

The highest median ages are found in rural areas and around the coast.

There is a high median age on the northeast coast as well as the southwest coast.

Wales has a relatively high median age across the country.

The lowest median ages are found in cities, such as Birmingham, London, and Leeds." How did you get on with those questions? Well done.

Okay, so we finished our first learning cycle, which was, "How can GIS be used to analyse the UK's population?" Now we're gonna go onto our second learning cycle, which is, "How can GIS analyse changes in the UK population?" So the census is taken every 10 years.

This means we have a record of changes to the UK population over time.

This timeline shows the years that the census was taken.

A quick check for us then.

Which of these statements is not true? A, the UK census happens every 10 years.

B, the UK census helps us show population changes over time.

And C, participation in the UK census is voluntary.

So pause the video, write down your answer, and then come back and let's see how you got on.

Okay, how did you get on? Which of these statements is not true? The answer is C.

Participation in the UK census is voluntary.

That's not true, because everybody has to do it.

With the ONS census maps, we can visualise and analyse changes in the population of England and Wales.

Let's want a video to demonstrate how we can do that.

So in this video, we're going to look through how we can see changes over time using the Office for National Statistics census maps.

So to do this, we need to change something on the menu.

So here in the map area, on the left hand side, we're looking at census 2021 data.

But if we click this arrow here, this brings up a couple of other options for us.

And if we select "change since 2011", that's going to allow us to see some change over time.

So if we select this, this is then going to give us the data to show how it's changed from the census data from 2011 to the census data from 2021.

So we'll be able to see how it's changed over the last 10 years.

So now when I select a topic, and if we click here and select "population" and scroll down and look at "population density" again, like we did last time, so click on that.

That now shows us change over time, not just the data that was collected in the 2021 census, but it shows how the population density has changed over the last 10 years.

So if you look at the key here on the bottom, we can see that this orangey colour, this shows the negative change in population density.

This yellow colour shows a change between -2% and +3.

4%, so this is going to look at whether there's either been no change or a slight downward change or a slight upward change.

And then this green colour shows an increase, the bluey green colour, a bigger increase, and then this blue colour a bigger increase.

So we can look at the different areas, and we can see that some of these areas have seen a decrease in population density, and some areas have seen an increase in population density.

So let's have a look at another one, then.

Let's come back over to "topic".

We'll click back here to "population".

And we'll scroll down to "median age".

And that's now showing us how the median age has changed over the last 10 years.

So you can see the key here at the bottom, this yellow colour, that's a change of zero to -2 years.

So the median age has decreased.

This green colour here is zero years to one year increase.

The slightly darker green, one to two years.

Darker again, two to three years.

And then this very very dark one is four to six years increase.

So you can see the areas where the median age is actually increasing.

You can see some areas of Wales here, where the median age is increasing quite significantly.

And we can see these areas around the coastline are also seeing an increase in median age.

That's changed over the last 10 years.

We've got some areas, we've got some areas here around London where the age hasn't changed at all, or where it's perhaps decreased by a year.

We've got some areas here in the Midlands around Birmingham that's stayed the same, or has decreased ever so slightly.

So you can use this to analyse the data and to see how and where the areas have changed over time.

So lots and lots of different ways that you can use this information.

Now, unfortunately, with this particular GIS, you're not able to look at the data for Scotland, for example, and the data to see change isn't available on the one for Scotland.

And that can be a bit of a limitation for this type of GIS, which is a single use GIS.

So it's just got the information just from the census.

Some GIS systems, you're able to add your own data and visualise that, but you can't do that with this particular type of GIS, which can be a limitation of this particular type.

But there are many positives, because there are lots and lots of analysis that you can do with the data that is available.

Okay, another check for us now then.

The population of most coastal areas in the UK is, A, becoming older, B, becoming younger, or C, staying the same.

So have a look at the map on the screen, pause the video, write down your answer, and then come back and let's see how you got on.

Okay.

How did you get on? The population of most coastal areas in the UK is becoming older, because the coastal areas are darker, showing a higher median age.

The population density of the area highlighted with the black line is, A, becoming more sparsely populated, B, becoming more densely populated, or C, staying the same population density.

So have a look at this map, pause the video, write down your answer, and then come back and let's see how you got on.

Okay.

How did you get on? The population density of the area highlighted with the black line is becoming more sparsely populated.

If you look at the colours, you can see there, it's becoming more sparsely populated.

Okay, our next task of the lesson then.

Open the link that's on the screen.

Complete the following tasks.

In the menu bar on the left hand side of the screen, locate the map selection box.

Click the down arrow and select "change since 2011".

Locate "topic" in the menu bar and select "population", and then "population density".

Analyse change in the population density across England and Wales.

And then answer this question.

"How has the population density of different areas of England and Wales changed over the last 10 years?" Your next task, complete the following tasks.

Locate "topic" in the menu bar and select "population" and then "median age".

Analyse the changes in median age across England and Wales.

And then answer this question.

"How has the median age of the population changed over the last 10 years?" Question three, use the search tool to find your local area or another local area.

Then answer the question, "How has the population density, median age, and one other population variable changed in this local area over 10 years?" So pause the video, work your way through the tasks, make sure you go through each one, step by step, and then come back and let's see how you got on.

Okay, how did you get on with that task then? So your map showing the change in population density over time should look like this.

Now to answer the question, how has the population density of different areas of England and Wales changed over the last 10 years? Population density in England and Wales has increased in some areas and decreased in others.

Some areas of Western Wales and Northern England have seen a decrease in population density.

The Midlands around Birmingham has seen the biggest increase in population density.

In general, the south of England has seen a bigger increase in population density than the north of England.

Now your map showing changes in the median age of people in England and Wales should look like this.

And this is the answer to the question, "How has the median age of the population changed over the last 10 years?" The median age of most of England and Wales has increased by one to six years.

Most of Wales, the southwest of England, and the northeast of England, has increased by four to six years.

Areas around London, Birmingham, and the Midlands, have seen the median age stay the same.

Now the next task was for you to look at a local area or another local area, and this is showing the local area of York.

And then you were to answer the question, "How has the population density, median age, and one other population variable changed in this local area over 10 years?" And here is the answer for York.

Population density in York has, on average, increased by 2.

4% in the last 10 years.

Areas around the city centre have the smallest increase with the biggest increases found on the outskirts.

Median age in York has increased by one year in the last 10 years.

Household size in York has decreased in the South of York, and three areas of Central York.

It has increased across the rest of the city.

So we're now at the end of our lesson on GIS, analysing the population of the UK.

Let's have a look at what we've learned today.

A GIS can be used to visualise and analyse the UK population.

A GIS can allow us to analyse the population density and age profile of the UK.

There are limitations with all GIS applications, and a GIS can be used to investigate changes in the UK population over time.

Thank you for joining me for today's geography lesson.

I've really enjoyed it, and I hope you have too.

I look forward to seeing you next time.