In order to help politicians formulate evidence-based policy and to more fully understand the socio-economic geography of the 43 constituencies, and to be able to compare areas within and between constituencies, the All-Island Research Observatory (AIRO – http://www.airo.ie), a NIRSA project based at NUI Maynooth, is providing free access to its mapping modules for candidates and parties contesting the forthcoming election. The modules are also free to use for anyone working in the public sector for non-commercial purposes.
Each constituency mapping module has data at the electoral division scale relating to potential voters; population demographics; marital status; religion; economic status; industry; housing; households; social class; socio-economic group; education; transport; deprivation indexes.
Associated mapping modules map the Live Register at office level, unfinished housing estates, planning permissions and housing development, and voting in the last election.
AIRO Election Module Interface
Elsewhere on the AIRO site there is access to data on 12 different themes and hundreds of pre-prepared maps for the whole island. A point and click interface means no mapping expertise is required.
To access the mapping modules
1. Visit http://www.airo.ie
2. Register as a user (top right of screen) or log-on
3. Click on the ‘mapping module’ tab
4. Select ‘Election Constituency Module’
5. In the ‘Choose theme’ box select the constituency you are interested in, then click ‘View’
6. The mapping module will now open
7. To zoom in and out of the map use the scale bar in the top left of the map panel
8. To change the data being mapped click on the ‘Indicators’ button and select the information you wish to view
9. All the panels are interlinked, so if you click in the tables it will highlight on the map and as you hover over the map the area is highlighted in the table
10. The buttons in the bottom right of the panel will open other relevant modules
Justin Gleeson and Rob Kitchin
Ireland after NAMA 
February 1, 2011 at 9:34 am
Fantastic stuff. Congratulations on this, Justin and Rob.
February 1, 2011 at 3:16 pm
im more then kinda worried this would be just used for election purpose rather then policy ones, now if it were open to the public…
February 1, 2011 at 3:45 pm
It may well be used for election purposes, but all parties have access to the same data so no-one is favoured. And hopefully the seed is planted that the data exists and is easily accessible for the policy formulation as well. We are working towards full public access. The issue is data licenses. The site can only be used for public good and not commercial gain. Our crude way of determining this at the minute is to limit to public sector use.
February 1, 2011 at 4:14 pm
it disadvantages a less informed voting public.
February 2, 2011 at 9:05 am
We agree that it would be preferable to make the site totally open access, but we are bound by a legal contract with the data providers not to restrict their ability to trade the data on a commercial basis. The terms say we can provide the service free of charge for the ‘public good’, but not for commercial purposes, and its up to us to ensure this. We have been arguing for full open access and continue to do so because we want as many people to use the site as possible and because we believe open government data will lead to more democratic society. Hopefully we can make some progress on this, but feel that having the site available on a selected basis is better than it not being available to anyone.
February 1, 2011 at 7:46 pm
[…] This post was mentioned on Twitter by Richard Cantwell, The Barbarian and Spatial Ireland, eoinomahony. eoinomahony said: A good example of public service – Interactive socio-economic maps of constituencies « Ireland after NAMA: http://bit.ly/gX1Uk6 […]
February 3, 2011 at 9:10 am
The question of supply which you pose, of necessity, needs to be matched with the critical question of demand. In an economy which is in collapse, where high unemployment is rampant, and emigration is accelerating apace, where whatever attractiveness Ireland had for the diaspora or foreign prospect for housing is now totally compromised, from whence do you envisage the demand factor in the market to emerge ? What you have discovered is the classic trough of depression; low supply and no demand; and it may not yet have reached its nadir. Very tough times are ahead.