Maintaining existing zoning systems using automated zone-design techniques: methods for creating the 2011 Census output geographies for England and Wales
Maintaining existing zoning systems using automated zone-design techniques: methods for creating the 2011 Census output geographies for England and Wales
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DOI：
10.1068/a43601
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发表时间：
2011-10-01
影响因子：
4.2
通讯作者：
Hornby, Duncan
中科院分区：
文献类型：
--
作者：
Cockings, Samantha;Harfoot, Andrew;Hornby, Duncan
自动化区域设计方法越来越多地被用于创建用于多种目的的分区系统，例如发布人口普查统计数据或调查社区对健康的影响。不可避免的是，最初支撑分区系统设计的特征（例如，人口规模或建筑环境的同质性）会随着时间而改变。与其每次发生实质性变化时都设计一个全新的系统，或者保留越来越不适合用途的现有系统，另一种选择是修改现有系统，保留仍然符合设计标准的区域，但不再适合用途的区域被分割或合并。本文定义了第一个用于自动维护现有分区系统的通用方法。使用定制的公开软件 (AZTool)，该方法用于修改英格兰和威尔士六个地方当局区内 2001 年人口普查输出的地理分布，以便使其适合发布当代人口相关数据。人们发现，与设计全新系统相比，现有系统的自动维护是一个更具迭代性和约束性的问题；设计约束经常需要放松，并且偶尔需要手动干预。尽管如此，现有的区域设计技术可以成功地进行调整和实施，以自动维护现有的系统。本文的研究结果与英国国家统计局设计 2011 年英格兰和威尔士人口普查输出地理区域以及寻求维持现有分区系统的任何其他国家或组织直接相关。
Automated zone-design methods are increasingly being used to create zoning systems for a range of purposes, such as the release of census statistics or the investigation of neighbourhood effects on health. Inevitably, the characteristics originally underpinning the design of a zoning system (eg, population size or homogeneity of the built environment) change through time. Rather than designing a completely new system every time substantive change occurs, or retaining an existing system which will become increasingly unfit for purpose, an alternative is to modify the existing system such that zones which still meet the design criteria are retained, but those which are no longer fit for purpose are split or merged. This paper defines the first generic methodology for the automated maintenance of existing zoning systems. Using bespoke, publicly available, software (AZTool), the methodology is employed to modify the 2001 Census output geographies within six local authority districts in England and Wales in order to make them suitable for the release of contemporary population-related data. Automated maintenance of an existing system is found to be a more iterative and constrained problem than designing a completely new system; design constraints frequently have to be relaxed and manual intervention is occasionally required. Nonetheless, existing zone-design techniques can be successfully adapted and implemented to automatically maintain an existing system. The findings of this paper are of direct relevance both to the Office for National Statistics in their design of the 2011 Census output geographies for England and Wales and to any other countries or organisations seeking to maintain an existing zoning system.