Identification info

Alternative title

Intermediate Geographies 2022

Metadata Language

English

Character set

UTF8

Dataset Reference Date (Publication)

2024-12-16

Identifier

www.gov.scot / SG_IntermediateZone_Bdry_2022

Presentation form

Digital map

Maintenance and update frequency

Not planned

GEMET - INSPIRE themes, version 1.0

• Statistical units

GEMET - Concepts, version 4.2.3

• population distribution
• statistical data

IPSV Subjects List

• Statistical analysis

Limitations on Public Access

Other restrictions

Other constraints

No limitations to public access

Use constraints

Other restrictions

Other constraints

Open Government Licence

Other constraints

Available under the terms of the Open Government Licence. The following attribution statement must be used to acknowledge the source of the information: Copyright Scottish Government, contains Ordnance Survey data © Crown copyright and database right (insert year).

Other constraints

Dataset is complete for Scotland. Care should be taken when using this dataset with lookups to other postcode based geographies. Some postcode unit boundaries have changed since intermediate zones were created and therefore exact match of the boundaries are unlikely.

Spatial representation type

Vector

Denominator

10000

Topic category

• Boundaries
• Society

Code

S92000003

 

Code

EPSG:4258

Code

EPSG:27700

Distribution Information

 

Data quality info

Quality Scope

Dataset

Statement

The Intermediate Zone geography was first created for use within the Scottish Neighbourhood Statistics (SNS) programme (now known as statistics.gov.scot) to sit between the Data Zone and local authority geographies and used when statistics are not suitable for release at the Data Zone level because of the sensitive nature of the statistics or for reasons of reliability. This original dataset (built from 2001 Data Zones) was created by St. Andrews University in 2005 on behalf of the Scottish Government. Intermediate Zone boundaries are managed by the Scottish Government's Geographic Information Science and Analysis Team (GI-SAT), who carry out any required updates at the request of the Office of the Chief Statistician (OCS).

The method which was used to update 2001 Data Zone boundaries following the 2011 Census has been replicated for this Census 2022 update. The aim was to maintain the link with current Census data, to re-align to local authority boundaries (at the time of the Census), and to account for changes in population while keeping boundaries relatively comparable to those created for 2011. The criteria used in the definition of 2022 Intermediate Zones followed the same as 2011, and were:

• That they be built up from 2022 Data Zones;

• Maintain approximately equal resident populations of 2,500 to 6,000 people, with an absolute minimum of 2,125 people and a maximum population of 6,375;

• Be a continuous area without multiple extents (based on the Extent of the Realm coastline), unless caused by water (e.g. Intermediate Zones including islands);

• Maintain a compactness of shape.

Initially, a first draft of boundaries was created by aggregating the proposed 2022 Data Zones onto the 2011 Intermediate Zone boundaries using the Data Zone Population Weighted Centroids. Then, any ‘best-fit’ 2022 Intermediate Zones which fell below the population threshold of 2,125 household residents, or above 6,375 household residents, were reconfigured. In addition, any best-fit 2022 Intermediate Zones which had become multi-extent (excluding those caused by islands) were reconfigured. Note that there may be Intermediate Zones which are multi-extent when clipped to Mean High Water, which are not caused by islands.

Once the proposed set of 2022 Intermediate Zones was complete, they were put out to public consultation. Local authorities, who have expert knowledge of their communities, were encouraged to respond. Respondents were invited to propose changes to Intermediate Zones either by amending the underlying Data Zones, or by moving a whole Data Zone from one Intermediate Zone to another, as long as they complied with the criteria set above for the definition of 2022 Intermediate Zones. Consultation responses resulted in a relatively small number of revisions being made to the proposed set.

The finalised set of boundaries consists of 1,334 Intermediate Zones. Each 2022 Intermediate Zone has been given a new unique code, following the Scottish Government’s standard naming and coding convention. The new S-codes for Intermediate Zones were applied in batches per local authority, which were ordered alphabetically by name, and then sorted to match as closely as possible to the 2011 Intermediate Zone order. The Intermediate Zone 2022 codes range from S02002515 to S02003848 (the previous 2011 codes ranged from S02001236 to S02002514). All Intermediate Zones have been assigned names by the local authorities.

Census 2022 total population, household resident population, and household counts have been supplied by NRS for each Intermediate Zone and are included in the attribute table. All census data outputs have privacy protection applied (known as cell key perturbation) to keep the data of individuals safe. In the case of 'nested' geography hierarchies, the impact of these Statistical Disclosure Controls (SDC) means the sum of the population within Data Zones does not always match the corresponding Intermediate Zones population totals. The same applies when summing totals at a local authority level, i.e. the sum of the populations of all Output Areas, Data Zones, and Intermediate Zones within a local authority may not match the published local authority total.

Standard area measurements in hectares and square kilometres have also been calculated from Census Output Area totals. The attribute represents the Land Area definition, i.e. the area to Mean High Water excluding the area of inland water bodies which are over 1 square kilometre surface area. This attribute has been included to ensure that total areas remain consistent when comparing geographies. The Land Area is the recommended parameter to use for calculating density statistics. Further details on Standard Area Measurements are available from the Office for National Statistics (ONS: see https://www.ons.gov.uk/methodology/geography/geographicalproducts/otherproducts/ukstandardareameasurementssam. Note that the standard area measurements will differ from the automated Shape_Area attributes. This will be due to the different coastlines/inland water, and also can be due to the Output Areas policy to remove non-contiguous parts, which was applied after the standard areas were calculated. For more information on the non-contiguous Output Areas policy, see https://www.nrscotland.gov.uk/publications/geography-census-2022-how-the-census-geographies-were-created-information-note/.

Note that the Intermediate Zones nest exactly into local authorities as they were at the time of the 2022 Census. However, the Intermediate Zone boundaries will not be updated to reflect any changes made to local authority boundaries in-between Censuses.

 

Metadata

File identifier

2978ed67-dade-42ec-b8e1-644e0b1f8cd8 XML

Metadata Language

English

Resource type

Dataset

Metadata Date

2024-12-16T12:19:45.667Z

Metadata standard name

UK GEMINI

Metadata standard version

2.3