A geographical information system used in the 2011 census of population and housing

Abstract

The National Statistics Office is Malta’s National Authority entrusted to carry out the census. The population statistic is only part of the whole exercise, thus the purpose of the census has evolved. The exercise has evolved over time with questions creating a spectrum of the Maltese society situation. The fact that it is carried out every 10 years, it allow for comparisons to be systematically arranged and within a time frame which is not short nor long. The census on its own is an extensive project to carry out, nevertheless the information gained from this national project provides data which needs to be turned into information, giving more value to the data gathered. The national census being a vast data source, if integrated with GIS can produce several beneficial statistical outputs. The decennial count of residents, households and dwellings is a pool for statisticians to create progression, differences and a comparison between the different census years. Having GIS to analyse the data through its several tools can create a more systematic, efficient and clear results. The polygonisation process of the Enumeration Areas (EAs) was the next to be created, specifically for the purpose of the census statistics to be incorporated and thus can be spatially visualised. The process to create the polygons was made systematically so as to have a clearer way to visualise exactly how the plotting should be made. Plotting the EAs will not be a static map as it could be used further on with other census outputs, or if changes are necessary, amendments will be needed to be done.