a - b - c - d - e - f - g - h - i - j - k - l - m - n - o - p - q - r - s - t - u - v - w - x - y - z
a
AFPD
The All Fields Postcode Directory lists all unit postcodes in the United Kingdom and assigns them to a range of administrative, health, electoral and other geographies. In May 2006 the AFPD was renamed as the National Statistics Postcode Directory (NSPD).
Address Count
The number of addresses (excluding small businesses/non-residential addresses) that use a particular postcode.
Athens
A secure access management system for web based services in the UK education and health sectors. Athens is run by EduServ . Access to the CDU services is now via the UK Access Management Federation (also known as Federated Access or UK Federation)
b
c
Census.ac.uk
Census.ac.uk - handles the administrative side of the ESRC Census Programme.
Convert
The original web based geography conversion utility created by Ludi Simpson and An Yu - GeoConvert has superceded Convert.
CSV
Comma Separated Variable - a file format for data storage. The files are stored as plain text with each variable or column is separated by a comma. CSV files can be used in Microsoft Excel and Access, SPSS and most spreadsheet and statistical applications.
CDU
Census Dissemination Unit - a Census Data Support Unit based within MIMAS at the University of Manchester. The CDU is responsible for supporting Census Aggregate Statistics. GeoConvert was created and supported by the CDU.
d
DSU
Data Support Unit - the ESRC Census Programme has a number of Data Support Units to look after different aspect of the Census. Full details can be found on the Census Portal.
Delivery Point Count
A Delivery Point is a place where post is delivered to, usually a letter box. The DPC is therefore a sum of the number of Delivery Points per postcode.
e
ESRC
Economic and Social Research Council - the UK's leading research funding and training agency addressing economic and social concerns. The ESRC funds the Census Programme for the UK academic sector.
ED
Enumeration District - the area covered by one Census Enumerator. Prior to 2001, the ED was the smallest unit of Census Output, in 2001 the ED was superceded by the Output Area but was retained for data collection purposes.
An ED covered approximately 200 households in England and Wales, 328 households in Scotland and 260 households in Northern Ireland. In addition there were the Special Enumeration Districts (SED's), communal establishments with the capacity to house over 100 people (whether they actually had this number in residence was unimportant). Examples of SED's include prisons, hospitals, nursing homes, halls of residence, large hotels and military bases. For more information see the ONS Geography web site.
Eastings
6 character code to represent the Ordnance Survey postcode centroid grid reference on the horizontal axis, from West to East to a precision of 1 metre. For more information see the Ordnance Survey Guide to the National Grid.
ESDS
Economic and Social Data Service - The Economic and Social Data Service (ESDS) is a national data service providing access and support for an extensive range of key economic and social data, both quantitative and qualitative, spanning many disciplines and themes.
f
g
GeoConvert
The application that this web site is about, GeoConvert is a web based system to allow conversion from one type of geography to another.
Geography
In GeoConvert terms a geography is a geographic unit type, of which there are many such as electoral, health, postal and administrative. Each geographic unit type can have multiple layers - postcode geography is made up of Postcode areas, districts, sectors and units. The ONS has a good Guide to UK geography on its web site.
GROS
General Register Office for Scotland - Government body responsible for the Scottish census data.
h
i
IMD
Index of Multiple Deprivation - now known as the Indices of Deprivation. The IMD or ID are measures of deprivation for every Super Output Area (lower layer) and local authority area in England, created initially by the Office for the Deputy Prime Minister, but now administered by the Communities and Local Government department of the UK Government.
j
k
l
m
MIMAS
MIMAS is a national data centre providing the UK higher education, further education and research community with networked access to key data and information resources to support teaching, learning and research across a wide range of disciplines. MIMAS is part of the University of Manchester.
Metadata
Data that describes data. In GeoConvert terms it is additional data used to describe geographic areas.
Multiple Occupancy Count
Count of households that are multi-occupied. Multi-occupancy occurs when a number of households share the same delivery point, e.g. four flats within a house all share the same letter box.
n
Northings
7 character code to represent the Ordnance Survey postcode centroid grid reference on the horizontal axis, from South to North to a precision of 1 metre. For more information see the Ordnance Survey Guide to the National Grid.
NUTS
Nomenclature of Territorial Units for Statistics - NUTS are a geocode standard for referencing the administrative division of countries for statistical purposes. For more information see the Wikipedia entry for NUTS.
NISRA
Northern Ireland Statistics and Research Agency - NISRA is the principal source of official information on Northern Ireland´s population and socio-economic conditions.
o
OA
Output Area - the smallest area for which 2001 Census data is available for. In England, Wales and Northern Ireland an OA is about 125 households, in Scotland it is about 50 households. See the ONS Guide to Geography for more information.
ONS
Office for National Statistics - Government body responsible for the census in England and Wales
Output Area Classification (OAC)
The 2001 Area Classification of output areas is used to group together geographic areas according to key characteristics common to the population in that grouping. These groupings are called clusters, and are derived using 2001 population census data. See the ONS OA Classification web site for more information.
The Output Area Classification User Group has a wealth of information on the OAC and its uses and on geodemographics in the UK.
p
PAF
Postcode Address File - The PAF created by the Royal Mail is an up-to-date and complete address database of the UK, containing over 27 million addresses. For more information see the Royal Mail PAF Technical Info.
Postcodes
Postcodes are quick and accurate ways of way of identifying a group of addresses so that mail could be sorted more efficiently and effectively, cutting down on delay and incorrect deliveries. A good guide to UK postcodes can be found on Wikipedia.
q
r
s
SOA
Super Output Area - SOA's are a new geographic hierarchy designed to improve the reporting of small area statistics in the UK. The ONS maintain a good guide to SOA geography.
Special Conditions (SC)
Some datasets available though the Census Data Support Units and ESDS International have special conditions attached to their use and it is necessary that you agree to these before you may use these datasets. These primarily concern restriction of use to teaching and research.
For full details of Special Conditions for census datasets see the Census.ac.uk Special Conditions web page
Small Business Count
Numeric count of the number of small businesses in a given postcode, taken from the Royal Mail Postcode Address File (PAF).
t
TLA
Three letter Acronym.
u
Urban/Rural Indicator
In England and Wales the ONS produced the Urban/Rural Indicator for Output Areas, this is a single character from 0-9 which grades the scale of how urban or rural the area is. See Annex A in the relevant NSPD User Guide in the documentation area for more details.
v
w
x
y
z
Zone
A geographical area.
Zone Identifier
Code to uniquely identify a geographical area, e.g. the zone code for the 2001 Census District of Barnsley is 00CC. Details of zone codes and zone names can be found in the NSPD documentation.
