botanical-bullies--banner-image

Is Glastonbury the most densely populated city?

View Live Map

About the map

If you've ever found yourself battling through a sea of festival goers determined to find the best spot, I'm sure you've found yourself asking: How can there be so many people in this one tiny farm field?

This map seeks to visualise this question by comparing the number of people found at festival sites to the normal population density around the UK.

Why it works

Displaying this data in 3 dimensions, provides an immediate visual representation of the gulf in density figures between festivals and normal expected population values.

By choosing to display the largest festival from each region of Britain, natural visual spacing has been provided to the map.

It’s said that for 5 days of the year Glastonbury becomes the most densely populated city in the UK, but the attendance map shows that despite having the highest attendance, it doesn’t have the highest population density.

The colourful theme of the map encapsulates the vibrant music festival experience, and is designed to grab the viewer's attention and reinforce the theme of the map

Important Steps

  • 1.

    Size each festival point according to attendance. Give the festival points a triangular shape, 'Allow Symbol Property Connections' for the symbology layer and set the point size to attendance value. 

  • 2.

    Find the area of festival sites. Use ArcGIS pro to geo-reference festival site maps, and establish site area with the measure tool.

  • 3.

    Convert raster population density data to vector format. Use the 'Raster to Point' tool to convert each raster pixel to a point value.

  • 4.

    Convert points to polygons. Create a polygon fishnet of the UK, and use the 'Summarize Within' tool to assign the point values to the corresponding polygon. 

  • 5.

    Extrude each polygon by its density value. Copy the vector population density layer into a local scene and extrude each polygon to an absolute height equivalent to its density.

  • 6.

    Make the map colourful! Find a colour scheme you like and use styles and outlines to make your map stand out. 

Previous
Next

Requirements

  • Data and software

    The NERC 2011 population density raster dataset was used as the basis for UK population density background. Festival attendance values were collected from a variety of sources across the web such as festival web pages and news articles. The festival site areas used for density calculations were determined by georeferencing site maps in ArcGIS Pro and measuring the area.

  • Analysis

    The only analysis required for this map was the converting of the raster population density data set to vector format. The geoprocessing tools required for this were 'Raster to Points,' 'Create Fishnet,' and 'Summarize Within.'

  • Time

    The most time consuming aspects of this map were the georeferencing of the festival maps, and cartographic design choices. Georeferencing took approximately 4 hours, data preparation took approximately 2 hours, and making the cartographic design choices was a continuous process.

Previous
Next

Tips and tricks

  • is-glastonbury-the-most-densely-populated-city-1

    Keep your Layers Tidy

    Extruding 116,753 polygons is computationally heavy, so keep the layers in both your project and geodatabase to a minimum.

  • is-glastonbury-the-most-densely-populated-city-2

    Be Creative

    Explore different ArcGIS styles to make your map stand out. For the outline of the attendance map, I've used 'Ripples' from John Nelson's 'Pen and Ink' style.

  • is-glastonbury-the-most-densely-populated-city-3

    Communicate with Colour

    Use specific colours to direct the attention of the viewer to different portions of the map and communicate more clearly what each map is showing.

Previous
Next

Links & Resources

Previous
Next
Adam Stanley

Map Author

Patrick Osborne (He/Him)

Patrick is a graduate consultant at Esri UK and has a background in Earth Sciences and Surveying. When not making maps, you'll find Patrick either running the trails or out on his bike.

LinkedIn

Start making maps with a free trial of ArcGIS Online

Try ArcGIS