RSPB2013 bird counts mapped

Releasing data really works, Continued

RSPB 2013 Big Garden Bird Watch released data by county, listing bird counts for each county in order of abundance. Why not then transpose these into one row of bird types (73) per recorded county (96, excl. N Ireland):

Take then the OS Opendata Boundary Line polygon shape files, and conflate the legal entities into a simple county polygons where counties existed, augmented with district and metro polygons where they didn't (totaling 112, excl. N Ireland too):

And then post the cleaned up OS Counties and RSPB 2013 data on the ShareGeo site as simple shape files, and the same county and bird count data on the ArcGIS Online as layer packages. Finally publish it on this private GIS cloud:

As a bonus the shape files computed areas, allowing to post relative bird counts by area that are more relevant that bulk counts. Go ahead and download these to your favorite package... and see the fascinating riches of the RSPB 2013 survey! And why not check out the Red and Amber listed birds, under List in GoogleDocs and p.2 in SlideShare above, as well as the original data links?

The release of public data gives such an opportunity to discover and explore the bird population trends in England, and to promote education on issues that are underpinned by such surveys. Follow the RSPB and Ordnance Survey, who have been sent this information. Stay tuned.