Page 61 - Computeractive - January 2, 2018 UK

WHA T YOUR AREA U SED
TO LOOK LIKE

There are s everal sites that reveal how
your area has changed, over centuries,
decades a nd in the p ast 1 0 y ears.
Old M aps O nline ( www.oldmaps
online.org) g oes t he furthest back in
time, offering 400,000 maps from
around the w orld – m any f rom t he 16th
and 1 7th C entury. For v intage photos o f
the U K, try t he Francis Frith C ollection
(www.francisfrith.com), which adds
new i mages e very month. Y o u c an buy
framed prints, or turn t hem into jigsaws,
calendars, m ugs and t ea towels.
DataShine m aps t he 2011 Census across t he UK, s howing information such as country o f b irth More d ramatic are t he photos o n
the B ritain from Above site ( https://
and s croll d own t o s ection 7. At the t ime Find out the v alue of your britainfromabove.org.uk, p ictured),
of writing, t his h adn’t y et been u pdated (and your neighbours’) home showing 95,000 aerial s hots, i ncluding
with the l atest r esults (www.snipca. It’s always i nteresting to check t he value the l argest collection taken before
com/26344), published i n N ovember, in of your home, t hen c ompare it with your World W ar 2. It’s an
which E ngland w as the o nly c ountry to neighbours’. T o d o t hat, use t he calculator irresistible way t o
see a n i mprovement in life s atisfaction. from mortgage advisors London & spend a n ostalgic
The ONS h as also measured wealth, o n Country (www.snipca.com/26357). afternoon, even if
its map o f ‘ Regional gross disposable Next, browse the h eat m aps f rom many of the f actories,
household i ncome’: www.snipca. online e state a gent Zoopla ( www.zoopla. stadiums, dockyards a nd cramped
com/26346. co.uk/heatmaps), which s how y ou streets are l ong gone.
average p rices by postcode, helpfully Bringing u s u p t o d ate i s G oogle
Analyse 2 011’s Census data colour-coded. Port Talbot’s £129,000 for Street V iew, which shows old a nd
DataShine C ensus ( http://datashine.org. example s hows as a c ool, calming b lue. new i magery side by side - t hough b y
uk) i s p robably t he most complex s ite West London’s glamorous F itzrovia, o n ‘old’, Google means a nything t aken
here, b ut also the m ost f ascinating. It the o ther hand, i s p ainted a s hocking since 2 007 ( when its c ars s tarted
maps every a spect o f t he 2011 Census in shade o f d ark r ed, t hanks t o i ts £4.4m photographing t he world). This w orks
England a nd W a les (for Scotland v isit price t ag. only in areas t hat have a c lock icon in
www.snipca.com/26341), letting y ou dig Y o u c an use t he Land R egistry, v ia the t op-left box.
deep into the c hanging n ature o f o ur Gov .uk, t o fi nd out how m uch a
country. Th at said, t he postcode s earch particular property s old f or (www.gov.
box i s h ard t o s pot - y ou’ll fi nd it at the uk/search-house-prices), while locations, s ome o f w hich m ay be closer to
bottom. T ype i t, click G o, then zoom in. Nationwide’s House P rice Index t ool you t han y ou think. Who k new B atman
Where i t g ets really interesting i s i n t he (www.snipca.com/26352) c alculates t he lived i n N ottingham? Wollaton Hall to be
Data Chooser bar a t t he top r ight. Using percentage r ise i n y our h ome’s v alue. precise.
this you c an filter t he results by very The BFI’s B ritain on Film site (www.
specific criteria, i ncluding r eligion, Famous places snipca.com/26355) m ay actually give you
health, e thnicity , employment and Forget about property v alues, h ere’s a h istorical g limpse o f y our o wn home.
languages spoken. Y ou then need to something truly p riceless: a s pot i n Thousands of clips f rom t he past 120
check t he yellow-to-red b ar at the silver-screen h istory. Th e U K M ap of Film years have been p reserved and u ploaded,
bottom left, s howing low t o h igh. F or Locations (www.snipca.com/26354) p lots painting a u nique picture o f B ritain
example, in our s creenshot above 82 of cinema’s m ost m emorable through the y ears.
displaying h ow many people i n e ast
London were born in the U K, the r edder See t he Blitz b omb s ites
the a rea, the h igher t he percentage. From 7 S eptember 1 940 t o 1 0 M ay 1941
In the y ellow a reas, t he proportion is London was s ubjected to unrelenting
around 25 per c ent a nd less. bombing b y t he German Luftwaffe. S ome
To see w here people a re moving to 30,000 tonnes of bombs w ere d ropped
and f rom w ithin t he UK, v isit the R oyal during the B litz, k illing 4 0,000 people.
Mail’s Moving Map ( www.snipca. Using d ata previously only a vailable at
com/26349). Launched in early 2 017, it the N ational Archives, B omb S ight ( www.
uses addresses given t o i ts redirection bombsight.org) m aps w here the b ombs
service t o c hart how f ar people m ove i nto Bomb Sight shows where b ombs fell during fell, i ncluding o ne right n ext t o w here
and o ut of an area (the average i s 2 5.8 the B litz, i ncluding o ne where Computeractive Computeractive now r esides (see
miles, with the l ongest being 7 28). is now b ased screenshot left).

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