Examining the Pandemic’s Effect map gallery

Examining the Pandemic’s Effect

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About the map

It is well known that the COVID-19 pandemic put a devastating strain on our health industry. The impacts were felt across society including education, with Ofqual estimating that pupils in England lost a third of learning time during the height of the pandemic.

We were inspired to explore whether the pandemic had an impact on the proportion of primary school students reaching the expected attainment levels in key academic areas. To understand this, we are comparing 2019 and 2022 academic years alongside the percentage of deprived households in each local authority to understand the most vulnerable areas.

Why it works

The bivariate mapping technique allows the relationship between two variables, attainment change and deprivation, to be understood. Using student population visualised with dot density to display the colour scheme overcomes the difficulty of balancing visual hierarchy in a choropleth map.

An interactive experience allows users to explore specific locations in more detail with the help of filters and different navigation views. The pop-ups have been configured to provide information relative to the national averages to provide further context.

You don’t have to worry about getting your laptop out to view the app, it’s been configured to work on both mobile phones and desktops.

Important Steps

  • 1.

    Add the attainment data into ArcGIS Pro and use the Join Field tool to attach it to the 2021 Census deprivation and population data using the Local Authority name as the common field. 

  • 2.

    Use the Field Calculator tool to determine the percentage change in attainment for each local authority district and key academic area (Maths, Reading, Spelling, Punctuation and Grammar and Writing).

  • 3.

    Display the attainment change by pupil population dot density. Use the Create Random Points tool for each county using the student population field as reference. Alter the number so that one point represents 100 pupils.

  • 4.

    Select a bivariate colour scheme to explore the relationship between the overall attainment change and the percentage of deprived households. To compare between different academic areas, choose graduated colour scheme with the same manually set breaks in the data.

  • 5.

    Use the Share function to export the feature layer from ArcGIS Pro to ArcGIS Online. Customise the pop-ups using Arcade expressions to dynamically display the local authority’s name and percentage change for the selected area. 

  • 6.

    Use ArcGIS Experience Builder to create an interactive app to explore the relationship between attainment change and deprivation as well as using navigation views to display the percentage change for key academic areas.

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Requirements

  • Analysis

    A Spatial Join was used to combine the attainment data to the local authority polygon layer containing the student population and household deprivation data. Using the Calculate Field tool we found the percentage change in the proportion of pupils reaching the expected academic level.

  • Time

    The data processing did not take long. The largest proportion of time was spent on the map symbolisation technique to ensure that the map fairly and clearly represented the attainment changes. Fine-tuning the app’s appearance took a couple of hours.

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Tips and tricks

  • tip-1-pandemic

    Bivariate mapping

    Combining two colour schemes is a great way of exploring the relationship between multiple variables whilst maintaining a clear map design.

  • tip-2-pandemic

    Avoid misleading maps

    If the map had been represented using school locations, the attainment values attributed to the points may not accurately represent the individual school’s performance. 

  • tip-3-pandemic

    Mobile adapted apps

    Adapt your app to be used on different screen sizes by customising the layout and making use of the ‘pending widgets’ feature.

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Links & Resources

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Olivia Mitchell

Map Author

Olivia Mitchell

Olivia (she/her) is a Graduate Consultant at Esri UK. When she isn’t map-making, Olivia enjoys water sports and trying out new recipes.

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