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Westminster Constituency Boundary Changes in England and Wales

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About the map

This map visualises the recently redrawn Westminster constituencies, reflecting the latest electoral boundary changes in England and Wales. Electoral boundaries are periodically redrawn to account for shifts in population distribution, therefore the map includes population data for each constituency. The motivation came from a desire to make complex electoral data more accessible and engaging through visual storytelling.

Why it works

We wanted the map to reflect the theme of ‘re-drawing’ boundaries and made cartographical choices that emphasise this. The basemap looks drawn, and combines with crayon-like symbology to show the constituency population. These combine with a crinkled paper effect and a sketch layer to make it appear as if the map had been newly drawn onto a piece of paper.

Important Steps

  • 1.

    We used ArcGIS Pro to prepare the data. Making use of the Union tool to join the old and new constituency layers together. A field calculation identified if the name of the constituency had remained the same.

  • 2.

    We then had to manually check the results, in some cases the boundaries had not changed but the constituency name had.

  • 4.

    Using sketch layers with specific blend modes can focus the readers attention to a specific area of the map.

  • 5.

    Using call-outs to focus on a specific area of your map where it may be hard to interpret at a large scale can significantly improve the legibility of your map.

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Requirements

  • Analysis

    We used the Union tool to analyse the areas of change between the previous constituency boundaries and the current ones. The Apportion polygon tool was then used to calculate the population inside each of polygons. We used the LTLA layer from the ONS Population Estimate Summary dataset for maximum accuracy.

  • Time

    Finding the appropriate workflow for the desired outcome was fairly time consuming, accumulating to a total of 4 hours. The data cleaning tallied up to another 4 hours. The final cartographic decisions were decided over the course of about 7 days.

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Tips and tricks

  • westminster-constituency-boundary-changes-in-england-and-wales-tip1

    Tell your story

    Every aspect of your map can be used to convey your message. This includes your symbology, basemap and legend. Use this to your advantage to make your map more engaging for the reader.

  • westminster-constituency-boundary-changes-in-england-and-wales-tip2

    Keep your workspace clean

    Testing out workflows can easily result in many layers in your project. Make sure to name and group these appropriately to save yourself confusion down the line.

  • westminster-constituency-boundary-changes-in-england-and-wales-tip3

    Clean your data

    Cleaning your data improves accuracy, enables better analysis, removes errors, fills gaps, and ensures smooth integration with your other datasets.

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Links & Resources

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Tom Hughes

Map Author

Tom Hughes (He/Him)

Tom is a Graduate Consultant at Esri UK with a background in Geography.

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