Page 60 - Computeractive - January 2, 2018 UK

Y o u r N e igh b o u r h o o d

r e v e ale d o n l i n e !

Fascinating facts and fi gures about your local a rea w ere o nce l ocked away in
archives a nd libraries – n ow they’re a ll available online. Joseph Fox reveals a ll

Check l ocal crime rate
Containing data going b ack t o O ctober
2014, P olice.uk maps (www.police.uk)
report crimes in your area. Z oom i nto
the m ap and c lick a n umber t o s ee what
the c rime was ( anti-social behaviour,
burglary or shoplifting, f or example),
then click t he small ‘ More details’ l ink
(see screenshot below) for m ore
information. T o s ee whether t he crime
was s olved, click ‘ Case timeline’ on the
next page. C lick ‘Sign u p f or alerts’ in the
right-hand menu to receive m onthly
bulletins a bout crime i n y our a rea.
Discover e nvironmental data
Data about natural a spects of our
locality is easier to access than ever. Check r oadworks h appening n ear y ou – a nd who i s r esponsible
The Environment A gency’s w ebsite
(www.snipca.com/26351) p rovides is at risk of flooding. council’s website. One w ay to find t his i s
information that, 20 years ago, you’d h ave Also useful is the N oise Map f rom via Gov .uk – g o t o www.snipca.
needed your own w eather station and environmental c onsultants E xtrium com/26342 and t ype y our p ostcode.
team of geographers to obtain. Y ou can (www.snipca.com/26376), which CrashMap (www.crashmap.co.uk)
find o ut everything you n eed to know visualises noise p ollution caused by road shows t raffic incidents s tretching b ack 1 9
about farming in your area, h ow local and r ail t raffic. P urple i s v ery n oisy (75 years, u sing data collected by the p olice
coasts a nd shorelines are e roding, w here decibels and o ver); orange represents t he and r eported t o t he Department for
your nearest a uthorised l andfill is, a nd quietest areas ( under 5 9 d ecibels). Transport. Y ou can filter s earches b y
most importantly h ow much your home vehicle type and s everity ( slight, serious
Give roadworks a nd accident or fatal), but to read more details you’ll
blackspots a w ide berth need to pay f or a r eport ( £1 each).
To avoid roadworks i n y our a rea v isit
Roadworks.org ( https://roadworks.org), Measure your area’s
which u ses information from local a nd wealth and h appiness
national highways a uthorities. C lick a Whoever s aid you c an’t measure
symbol and y ou’ll s ee what’s taking place happiness o bviously didn’t work for t he
and w ho’s responsible (Virgin M edia i n Office f or National Statistics ( ONS). Its
our s creenshot above - l et’s hope t hey a re annual ‘ Personal well-being’ s urvey
laying super-fast broadband!). quantifies the l ife s atisfaction of people i n
Zoom into your area on Police.uk t o s ee For d etails of potential d isruptions, the U K o f e very area on the U K m ainland.
crimes t hat were reported r ecently check p lanning a pplications on your local For a m ap visit www.snipca.com/26345

60 20 December 2017 – 2 J anuary 2 018