A team in the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities (DLUHC) has developed a dynamic map visualisation tool for users to browse and visualise data down to neighbourhood level across the UK.
It currently has the tool in a private beta format and is planning to deploy it within the department.
DLUHC software engineer Elliot Philips outlined the initiative in a blogpost, saying it has come from a need for high quality granular maps and data to support policy making and programming.
In its current form, the tool provides users with access to a dynamic UK-wide map that can be viewed at national down to neighbourhood levels, and timeseries visualisations to show how metrics have changed over time. It also includes a unified data repository and a function to export and embed interactive and static versions of the map into other systems.
Technology and datasets
It uses the Sveltekit web development framework, TypeScript and Python programming languages and Mapbox APIs. All the datasets used have been approved by the relevant government departments and are already publicly available.
In addition, a data catalogue has been configured to source, transform and deliver all the data consumed.
“The team have been encouraged and supported by the wealth of positive comments and suggestions for continuous improvement. We've also used this feedback together with ongoing user research, and provide updates on the progress of our work through our internal monthly ‘show and tells’,” Phillips said.
