Mapping the Capital's Demographic Diversity

17 October 2023

Exploring London's Geodemographic Landscape with the London Output Area Classification (LOAC)

The new London Output Area Classification (LOAC) product is an updated open data geodemographic classification produced by the Consumer Data Research Centre (CDRC) using small area census data released earlier this year.

A preview event for the new classification, sponsored by the UCL Social Data (SODA) Institute, took place in the UCL Department of Geography on 6 September.

The LOAC dataset and accompanying materials were unveiled by the CDRC and co-hosts Didobi, to the capacity audience of 70 delegates, including representatives from the Greater London Authority (GLA) and Transport for London (TfL).

The event was introduced by Matthew Hopkinson from Didobi and Professor Paul Longley, the UCL Director of CDRC before CDRC Deputy Director Professor Alex Singleton revealed the new product itself.

CDRC Mapmaker is the widely-used online mapping platform developed by CDRC’s Centre Technical Manager Oliver O’Brien to showcase many of the Centre’s data holdings. Oliver used it to demonstrate how LOAC summarises the latest comprehensive London-wide demographic datasets into the eight geodemographic supergroups at the core of the LOAC product.

Clear inner and outer London geodemographic differences were apparent, showing the rich demographic diversity of the capital city and how it continues to evolve from the previous version of LOAC (also available on the CDRC platform).

The event also demonstrated some smart data applications of LOAC including how it can help understand and model the cost of living crisis, identify warmer homes, support businesses through consumer analytics, and contextualise London’s 24-hour economy.

Panellists, including representatives from Homes England, the GLA’s City Intelligence Unit and Westminster City Council, then discussed practical uses of geodemographic data like LOAC and the other classification holdings hosted on the CDRC Data platform.

The event concluded with remarks by the SODA Director Professor James Cheshire.