Interactive results map to be launched for Local Elections 2018
Following the local elections in two weeks time, a new and interactive mapping tool will provide a national picture of the results that is made freely available online as soon as they are declared locally.
Seasoned local election watchers will know that getting a full national and local picture of changes in political control resulting from the local elections has in the past taken many days. Maps that are available tend to be static, require a subscription, or are only published days after the event.
Maps showing ‘before’ and ‘after’ overall political control in every English local authority including the 151 Councils where elections are being held, will now be published and updated by the Local Government Information Unit (LGiU) on an interactive visualisation hosted on their website. A collaboration between the LGiU, Mapolitical (www.mapolitical.com) and Connected Local Government TV, will share this information within hours of the results being declared.
The LGIU have provided live coverage of the local elections for the past 7 years, gathering results information from sources on the ground, calculating changes in overall control and adding this information to a national data map. This year, thanks to the collaboration with Mapolitical, a data visualisation business, changes in the number of seats, and overall control will now be available via an online map, displaying the before and after picture as it emerges.
Ingrid Koehler, Senior Policy Researcher, LGIU said, “This is a significant development around local elections reporting and a real win for local democracy. Local elections tend to create little excitement amongst the general public with turnout as low as 20 per cent. This is not healthy when so much of the decisions made locally impact people’s lives on a daily basis. However, this interactive map is a small step in helping transform local democracy by giving citizens the power of knowledge when it comes to the elections taking place in their communities.”
Vicky Sargent, CLGdotTV, said, “Having worked for many years in the local government sector, we are aware of how much more could be done to support citizen interest in local democracy. Getting election results published fast, and enabling discussion of them from local, rather than national perspective is an exciting prospect.”
Further detail is available on the LGiU’s elections coverage including a Guide to Elections Communications and Ones to Watch.
