Data Warehouse Tutorial

Introduction

The NICA Data Warehouse enables users to download all of the available Census
tables for a particular area. The availability of tables is dependent on the geographic
level chosen e.g. District Council or Health Board. The data for each table are
contained in their own csv file and all the csv files for a given area are then zipped
into a single file for speed of download.

If multiple areas are selected then the individual zip files are zipped again into a
single file.

If you choose to download any of these zip files you will need to “unzip” them once
they have been saved on to yourcomputer. To do this, you will need to run archive
software such as Winzip or other archive extracting software. If you selected multiple
areas then you will have to repeat the process again for each individual area to obtain
the csv files which are now ready for use.

A complete list of the zip file contents for any particular area level may be viewed
before or after download by clicking the link in the “Documentation” section of the
download page.

To access Data Warehouse from the home page, need to click on the “Data
Warehouse” button on the left hand side of the screen.
The next screen should look like the one below. This screen is known as the “Select
area” screen which is the first of two steps required to download data.

Selecting your area of interest

At the top of the Warehouse page, you should see a route map (as pictured below).
This indicates where you are at any stage of the process and this route will prove
useful when you are unsure of what step you are currently performing.
Step one simply requires you to choose from the 8 standard census geographies.
Geographic areas can be chosen in two different ways, as detailed below.

1. Selecting by list menu.

If you select your geography by list,

you can only extract areas from the
area types in this list.

When you enter the geographic area

selection, the 1st option ‘Local
Government District’ is highlighted in
blue, i.e. the option currently selected.
As you pull the cursor/hand over the
options they change to khaki. When
you click on an option with the left
mouse button, it turns blue to show it
is chosen.

At the same time, the names of the

divisions that make up that area type
are shown in the blue box to the right.
For example if you click on ‘Local
Government District’ the names of the
1st 15 Local Government Districts
appear in the right hand blue box and
you can scroll down to see the
remainder.

You can then select the actual areas by

clicking on the option box to the left of
the area name. You can select one or
more areas. When an area has been
selected a little tick appears in the
option box. If you decide you picked
the wrong area then simply click again
on the box and the tick will disappear,
removing that area from your
selection.
 You should notice that the box
immediately below the main NICA
menu in the left hand margin uses your
choice of areas as you select them. In
this example, Antrim and Ards have
been chosen.

The following example shows all three of the above steps.

i. Select area type – Parliamentary Constituency.

ii. Select area – Belfast North, Fermanagh and South Tyrone, Foyle.
iii. Selected areas box shows the chosen areas.
 2. Selecting by map

You can select your preferred area by map by clicking on the ‘select by map’ grey tab
above the blue box.
As you click the tab, it becomes white and the ‘select by list’ tab becomes blue.

The main map is for choosing the area, the inset map shows you which area you
currently have on view.

Map layers

The list to the left of the map now shows all 7 area types, called map layers (or
boundaries). The Electoral Ward and Output Area option buttons are shaded out.
These only become available for selection when you have zoomed in on a smaller
area.

To view a boundary set you must select an area type, or map layer from the list:-
Local Government Districts, Health Boards, Parliamentary Constituencies, Education
and Library Boards or NUTS3. Each layer type has a unique boundary set and these
will be shown overlain on the map. You can select one map layer from the list, and
one layer from the Reference Layer drop-down list below, so that the boundaries of 2
different map layers will be displayed on the map. However, data will only be
displayed relating to one area type (map layer), so you must select only one of these
layers on the map before viewing a table.
Example

If you are interested in Strabane, while viewing the map of Northern Ireland, click on
the far left-hand tool button which shows a magnifying glass with a + This tool allows
you to zoom into a smaller area on the map. Then click (and keep your finger down
on the mouse button) onto the map at a point to the North West (above and to the left)
of the area you want and drag the red square South East (down and to the right) until
the red outline covers the area where you think Strabane is. Release the mouse button.

A new map should appear with more detail. If Strabane isn’t central to the map, then
use the yellow pan buttons on the map frame. Click on them until Strabane is central.
‘District Council’ boundaries appear automatically in dark blue. To see the boundaries
for Northern Ireland Parliamentary Constituencies, click on the map layer option
button to the left of that option – Parliamentary Constituencies boundaries will be
displayed.

There is a further option for showing boundaries at the bottom of the area type list
called the ‘Reference Layer’ (mentioned above). This enables you to see the
boundaries of two types of area at the same time. It is useful if you want to select all
the smaller areas within a larger area.

Example

If you are interested in Cloughy lies between Portavogie and Portaferry in Ards,

You first need to perform successive “zoom ins” to find it:

First zoom in to find the area within Ards Local Government District.

Second zoom in around Cloughy.

With the resultant map, you will notice that you can now select Output Areas to view.

A map legend will appear below the light buff, map layer choice box showing the
boundary chosen and the colour of the boundary on the map. On the above map, you
can see the Output Areas are marked in a pale blue.
Area Selection tool

Below the map there are a number of tool buttons. The third from the left (an
arrowhead) is the area selection tool. (If you pass the cursor slowly over the tool
button, some information about it will appear in a white information box). If you click
on the arrowhead with your mouse button and then click in an area on the map, the
area clicked will have a yellow shade added to it showing that it is selected. If you
click again, the yellow shading will vanish showing that the area is not selected. On
the map above you can see a Census Output Area has been selected, it is highlighted
in yellow. To the left of the page you will be provided with details about the Output
Area and the postcodes contained within it.

If you select another area type, which will have different boundaries, then your
selection will disappear. As you make your choice with the Area Selection tool you
should also notice that the box immediately below the main NICA menu has your
choice of areas as you select them.

You may also have noticed in the above map that the background area is OSNI, you
can select the tool to switch this facility on and off.
Downloading files

Once the areas have been selected, click ‘2. Download data’ on the route map. This
will take you to the download page and you will also notice that ‘Select area’ will be
ticked indicating you have completed step one. From here you will be able to
download the files individually, and in the case of multiple areas, as a single
combined zip file.

A complete list of the zip file contents for any particular area level may be viewed
before or after download by clicking the link in the “Documentation” section above
the list of files to be downloaded. This page is printer friendly and can be printed and
retained for future reference.

Once these files have been downloaded and unzipped they can be viewed in any
application that is suitable simply by

- double left mouse clicking on it – If no application is associated with

csv files then you may be prompted to choose one from a selection.
- Right mouse clicking and selecting open or open with… from the
menu shown
- Selecting the file and clicking File from the main menu and selecting
open or open with… from the selection
- Selecting file and clicking open from within a suitable application
Spreadsheet applications (Excel etc.), Database applications (Access etc.) or any text
editor (Microsoft Word, Wordpro or Notepad) are all suitable for viewing and
manipulating the file contents.
Example 1. Downloading all data available for Coleraine

The following example shows how to download all the Census tables available for
Coleraine District Council.

There are two methods of downloading the Census tables for Coleraine. Each of the
two alternatives differ only in how step one is performed.

Step 1. Select Area using ‘Select by list’

Using the first method, selecting by list, simply select Local Government District
(highlighted in blue) and tick the box beside Coleraine. Then select the ‘NEXT’ tab at
the top of the screen.
Step 2. Download the data.

From the following screen, simply choose to download the data.

Alternative method,

Step 1. Select area using ‘Select by map’

Step 1a. Choose the ‘select by map’ tab.

Step 1b. Use the zoom tool to select the approximate location by “boxing” the area.

As soon as you release the button after “boxing” the chosen area, the next screen will
have zoomed into the selected area (see below).
Step 1c. Select Coleraine by using the pointer tool at the bottom of the screen. This
highlights the selected area. Confirmation of the area selected is provided at the left
hand side of the screen
Step 2 Download Data

To download the tables simply click on the Download Data tab at the top of the
screen. This will bring up a facility to download all the data available for Coleraine

After you click on the download facility, you will be given the choice to either open
or save the data.

You can clear the geography at the left hand side of the screen when you are finished;
or you can go back to the ‘Select area’ page and start again which will in turn change
the selected areas at the left hand side of the page.
Example 2. Downloading all data available for Wards Crawfordsburn and
Cultra

Again, there are two methods to get to the downloading stage in the Warehouse
service. The first method is to ‘select by list’.

For this example, you need to select the Electoral Ward option and tick the boxes for
Crawfordsburn and Cultra.
The second method of choosing your areas is ‘select by map’. Simply select the
appropriate tab and a screen with a map of Northern Ireland will appear on the next
page.

You will notice that the option for looking at Electoral Wards and Output Areas are
shaded out. To “activate” these map layers you need to zoom into a smaller area.
You will notice the boundaries for Electoral Wards are highlighted in purple, the
above diagram has also marked Local Government District Wards (blue) as a
reference layer. To choose the wards of Crawfordsburn and Cultra, simply use the
pointer tool at the bottom of the map to shade them in. You can check that the correct
areas have been selected by reviewing the “selected area” box at the left hand side of
the screen.
After you have selected and highlighted your chosen areas on the ‘select by map’
option, you are ready to download the tables. To continue, simply select the
‘download data’ option from your Route Map. As soon as you have done this, you
will notice that the ‘Select area’ has been ticked and you will then have the option to
download all data available for the selected areas.

Conclusion

The NICA Data Warehouse facility allows users to, select and download all available
tables for a variety of geographies ranging from Northern Ireland down to Census
Output Areas. A user can select their preferred area(s) using the “select by list”
facility. Alternatively users can select tables for customised areas using the interactive
mapping tools.

Further Help

If you need further help contact us:

by email: census.nisra@dfpni.gov.uk
by telephone: 028 90348160
by fax: 082 903048161
by letter:
Northern Ireland Statistics & Research Agency
Census Office
McAuley House
2-14 Castle Street
Belfast
Northern Ireland
BT1 1SA