Map of the Week: Lack of English fluency

The 2006 census found that English fluency* falls below 90% in two areas of the GTA (map):

1) the neighbourhoods immediately east and west of downtown (three postal codes centring on Dundas and Ossington, Dundas and Spadina and Queen and Carlaw), and

2) northwestern Scarborough and a pocket of Vaughan (two neighbourhoods centred on Finch and McCowan, another to the west centred on Finch and Warden, and another in Vaughan centred on Finch and Hwy. 407.)

* (total census respondents minus those saying they spoke French only or neither English nor French)

Map of the Week: Crime

This week’s maps depict Toronto crime rates by police division, drawn from from this page.

The six maps cover sexual assault, assault, robbery, breaking and entering, auto theft and theft over $5,000.

The available crime data covers the period from January 1 through August 28 of this year, so the crime rates per 1,000 should not be read as annual crime rates. Its usefulness is showing how crime, or at least reported crime, varies between neighbourhoods.

Downtown’s 52 Division (which has a resident population of about 41,000, far lower than the average of about 161,000) is included on the map out of consistency, but this is one case where looking at a ratio of residents and reported crime breaks down. There's disproportionately people and activity compared to the resident population.

There are certain patterns. Breaking and entering is concentrated in 55, 51, 52 and 14 Divisions, in the central city. The city's northwest (23 and 31 Divisions), on the other hand, seems to suffer more car theft.

The Toronto police publish this disclaimer about the data.

Maps elsewhere: The U.S. election

Google's LatLong blog linked recently to an outstanding U.S. election map working down to the county level (select a state to show county maps) which uses the Google Charts API in much the same way we do, but has several bells and whistles that I've never seen before: very fast loading, a mouseover feature on the state and county polygons, and an option to embed the map, as seen below:

Map(s) of the Week: Income

I’ve been getting around to this for a while, and this turned out to be a good week for it – three maps (start here) of income distribution in the GTA.

We map average household income, the lowest-income households and the highest-income households.

Maps elsewhere: How Britain dies

Mark Easton's mapping project this week is a 17-map set showing how cause of death varies in Britain by age and geography:

... As we move on to the next age band, 15-19, the shades on the map change radically. In most places, the most common cause of death for older teenagers is transport but in many urban areas it is suicide or undetermined intent. Two neighbourhoods in Glasgow have homicide as the most common cause of death for this age group.

As we move into the late twenties, we begin to see cancer creeping into the picture and by ages 30-34, the map colours change radically again, with cancer now dominant, particularly in rural areas. In other rural neighbourhoods we start to see cardiovascular causes appearing.

By the ages of 35-39 the map is dominated by cancer as the most common cause of death, but cardiovascular causes are now becoming evident in northern urban areas. There then follows a series of maps covering the five-year age bands from 40-44 through to 70-74.

On all of these maps the most common causes of death are cardiovascular or cancer and they show the changing geographical variation across these years of age. At younger ages cardiovascular causes dominate in the northern parts of the country and London, and gradually extend southwards and eastwards.

By ages 65-69, cardiovascular is the most common cause of death across almost all of the country, apart from a ring in the south east around London where cancer dominates.

Map of the Week: Where the dogs are (part two)

Here is the second part of our dog map series - a series of maps, one for each of Toronto's top 20 dog breeds. (If you missed Part 1, which gives an overall picture of dog ownership in the city, click here.)

In 2008, these were:

You can start with our top-rated breed, Labrador retrievers, and work your way through all the maps, or use the links below to go to one directly.

Some breeds have clear patterns, while others don’t. Purebred Labs are centred in the high-income areas along Yonge St. south of the 401, while mixed Labs are spread out across south Etobicoke, Riverdale, the Beaches and part of the coastline part of Scarborough.

Pit bulls form a rough V across the city, with strong pockets around Bloor and Dufferin and Queen and Coxwell. (The ban on pit bulls seems not to have had much of an effect on their numbers over the last four years.)

As an aside, two dogs in the database are listed as a Siberian husky/wolf cross, one near Bathurst and Sheppard and the other near Brown’s Line. An animal described as a ‘wolf cross’ lives around Birchmount and Sheppard. Hopefully none of them have to live in small apartments.

 

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1:  Labrador retrievers | 2:  Golden retrievers | 3:  German shepherds | 4:  Parson Russell Terriers | 5:  Shih Tzus | 6:  Beagles | 7:  Pit bulls | 8:  Labrador retriever mix | 9:  Miniature schnauzers | 10:  German shepherd mix | 11:  Bichon Frise | 12:  Miniature poodles | 13:  Yorkshire terriers | 14:  Cocker spaniels | 15:  Siberian huskies | 16:  Border collies | 17:  Standard poodles | 18:  Soft-Coated Wheaten Terriers | 19:  Rottweilers | 20:  Boxers |

Another election map

This really should have been in the election series to start with: a map of margins of victory.

Four GTA ridings were won and lost by less than 2% of the vote: Brampton West (which came down to 133 votes, or 0.25% of those cast), Mississauga-Erindale, Oak Ridges-Markham and Brampton-Springdale. York West was the region's most lopsided contest - Liberal Judy Sgro crushed her closest challenger by over 40% of the total votes.

Map(s) of the Week: How the GTA voted

This week, we focus on election maps which go beyond who won on Tuesday.

Four maps look at the four largest parties’ support in isolation: Conservatives, Greens,  Liberals, and New Democrats.

The next two maps look at turnout rates and how they vary between ridings, and  second-place parties throughout the GTA.

There is a lot of information presented. Please use the comment section to discuss it.

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Part 2 of the dog map will appear next week.

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UPDATE: As far as I can tell, the maps should display properly in IE now. Please leave a comment if there are any further problems.

Map of the Week: Where the dogs are (part one)

Two maps this week, both based on a version of Toronto's dog licence database released by the City:

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Toronto neighbourhood dog ownership map

Dogs, at least the ones known to the City's license system, cluster along the lake shore east of downtown and in the neighbourhoods along Yonge St. south of Hwy. 401.

The list is led by Lawrence Park (M4N), followed closely by the Beaches (M4E and M4L).

(Urban observation has it right on this one - there really are a lot more dogs in the Beaches than elsewhere in the city.)

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Where dog ownership is rising and falling, by Toronto neighbourhood

The dog ownership rate has generally risen across the city over the last four years. In absolute numbers, there were just under 49,000 licenced dogs in August of 2008, compared with 36,000 in 2004.

These numbers, of course, reflect the number of dogs which are properly licenced. It's hard to know how much of the change reflects better enforcement, and how much is due to an actual increase in animals.

The dog licence rate has fallen in 24 postal areas, and it would be interesting to know why. The strip of blue on the map running from the Beaches west through downtown and then northwest through the old city's west end looks very much like the pattern in the 2004 pit bull map.

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Thanks to  Andy Bailey, the Star's computer-assisted reporting specialist, for boiling down the spreadsheet to a manageable form.

Next week: maps of Toronto's most popular dog breeds.

Maps elsewhere: The BBC's map of the week

This had flown under the radar until now: bbc.co.uk editor Mark Easton's blog also has a Map of the Week feature. His version is based on embedded .gifs, but the concept is similar.

Check out these maps of shifts in global wealth over the last 2,000 years. I respect a man who takes the long view.

The BBC's blog template doesn't seem to allow for tags, but there is an archive of sorts here.