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Further Data Resources

CeLSIUS - Centre for Longitudinal Study Information and User Support (London School of Hygeine and Tropical Medicine)

CelSIUS is funded by the ESRC and is the support team for academic users of the Office for National Statistics' Longitudinal Study (the 'LS') which is a complete set of individual-level Census records, linked between successive Censuses (1971n‐2001), together with data for various events, relating to a 1% sample of the population of England and Wales. Available online are a series of online training modules, a data dictionary, downloadable tables on a number of topics, and a guide to using the ONS-LS.

Census Registration Service

Based at the Data Archive, the CRS is responsible for online registration for access to the UK Census datasets by the UK tertiary education community. The site is a one-stop registration site for contemporary decennial Census datasets (1971n‐2001):

Further information is on the 2001 Census of Population Programme website (ESRC and JISC).

Economic and Social Data Service (ESDS)

ESDS is a joint service co-hosted by four centres of expertise within the Universities of Essex and Manchester which provides access and support for an extensive range of key economic and social data, both quantitative and qualitative, spanning many disciplines and themes. It comprises a number of specialist data services that aim to promote and encourage data usage in research and teaching these include preservation, dissemination, user support and training. It also hosts the ESDS Nesstar Catalogue which is a virtual data library which allows ESDS registered users to interactively search, browse and download a selected range of key economic and social data.

The General Register Office for Scotland

The GROS is responsible for the registration of births, marriages, deaths, divorces and adoptions in Scotland, and also conducts the Scottish decennial censuses. Their statistics page lists statistical tables about Scotland's people on a variety of topics such as migration, household estimates and projections, life expectancy, electoral statistics etc. Also included is High Level Summary of Statistics (held on the Population and Migration Statistics section of the Scottish Government website). Additionally, Scotland's People is a fee-based site for genealogists to search individual's historical records.

Geoconvert (MIMAS)

Geography matching and conversion tool for UK academics. This utility develops and extends the work of it's predecessor, the Convert Project. It is an online version of the National Statistics Postcode Directory (NSPD), which maps every postcode in the UK to a variety of administrative and Census geographies. GeoConvert enhances the Convert project with a new interface and up to date versions of the NSPD. It also provides the ability to search historical data. A variety of output options are available, including files that can be downloaded and read into spreadsheets. The convert utility allows users to convert their own data into that of a new geography. Users must be registered for academic use of the postcode directories via the Census Registration Service (see above).

History Data Service

Based at the UK Data Archive at the University of Essex, The History Data Service provides access and support for a range of historical datasets, promoting and facilitating increased and more effective use of data in research, learning and teaching. The History Data Service is a successor service to AHDS History which from 1996 to March 2008 was one of the five centres of the Arts and Humanities Data Service. It also hosts the Great Britain Historical Database Online - a large database of British nineteenth and twentieth-century statistics.

Office for National Statistics:

The Office for National Statistics (ONS) is the government department responsible for collecting and publishing official statistics about the UK's society and economy. Summaries and detailed data releases are published free of charge. The ONS website also includes the following documentation: codes of practice, policy, geography, methodology, quality, classifications, best practice guidance and user guides. Resources include:

  • nomis - free access to detailed and up-to-date UK labour market statistics from official sources
  • National Statistics 2001 Area Classification - The 2001 Area Classification is a socio-demographic utility for profiling neighbourhoods. It 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 census data. The classification is used by government departments and academics for analysis and comparison, and can also be used to find socio-demographic information about where people live and how it compares with the rest of the country.

OneGeology

OneGeology is an international initiative of the geological surveys of the world to create dynamic geological map data of the world available via the web.

Satellite Image Data Services (MIMAS)

The Satellite Image Data Service (SIDS) is hosted by MIMAS in Manchester, and offers satellite imagery for the UK. It is available free of charge, although institutions are required to register. Formerly known as Landmap, the service provides access to high quality data from a wide variety of sensors (ASAR, ERS, Landsat and SPOT) in formats which are interoperable with Ordnance Survey data. In addition to data download, facilities such as the interoperable services are available, which can be used to create mash-ups of spatial data within desktop software environments thus providing an innovative form of accessing data for teaching and research purposes.

Scottish Register of Employment, 1950-1993

A set of industrial time series data for Scotland.

UK Data Archive (University of Essex)

The UK Data Archive at the University of Essex houses the largest collection of accessible computer-readable data in the social sciences and humanities in the United Kingdom. It is a national resource centre, disseminating data throughout the United Kingdom and, by arrangement with other national archives, internationally. In addition to housing quantitative data sources the UK Data Archive also hosts the Qualitative Data Service - Qualidata.