These Frequently Asked Questions are intended to assist you when using the Key Statistics for urban areas in England and Wales CD released in June 2004. They supplement The Guide to Getting Started supplied with the CD. If your query is not resolved, please contact Census Customer Services.
Users are advised to regularly review these Frequently Asked Questions which will be updated with details of any new issues as they become known.
Getting started How do I start using the CD?
Put the CD in your CD drive. It will start automatically and you will be presented with a screen that asks you to either accept or decline the ONS conditions of supply. Before registering your acceptance, it is recommended that you click on the link to the 'Read Me' file that is just above the 'DECLINE' and 'ACCEPT' options. Within this Read Me file is The Guide to Getting Started. You are advised to read this thoroughly and follow the instructions closely before trying to use the CD.
Q. Does the CD run on an Apple Mac?
Much of the content of the CD can be viewed with an Apple Mac, but the facility to download and manipulate the data is not available as SuperTABLE software cannot be installed on an Apple Mac.
Conditions of supply Why am I frequently asked to accept the conditions of supply when I have already done so after first putting the CD in my disk drive?
This will occur if you are using the CD in your CD drive and have not chosen to install the contents of the CD on your PC. ONS cannot control the use and possession of the CD and this procedure ensures that the content of the CD is never viewed without the conditions of supply having been accepted. If you opt to install the contents of the CD on to your computer you will not be asked to accept the conditions again.
Installation Do I have to install the contents of the CD on my computer?
No, the Key Statistics tables, in percentages, can be viewed with the CD in the CD drive and with no software installed. However, you will need to install some software to access the data as counts get the maximum from the CD. If you are connected to a network you may need to seek the assistance
of your network administrator to install SuperTABLE. When you put the CD in your CD drive, the first screen that you see will display the conditions of supply, a link to a Read Me file (which provides a guide to installing the software), and provides you with the option to either accept or decline the conditions. If you accept the conditions, a second screen will appear which provides you with a choice to view or install the CD.
I have installed SuperTABLE from a previous CD or DVD. Do I need to reinstall?
No, you do not need to install SuperTABLE from the CD as versions of SuperTABLE included on previous CDs and DVDs can be used to view the tables on the urban areas CD. However, it is recommended that you install from the urban areas CD, because the version of SuperTABLE included is new (Version 4.2.1), and provides a search facility which allows you to find areas quickly in the SuperTABLE files. It can also be used to open tables provided on previous CDs and DVDs. You will need to uninstall previous versions of SuperTABLE before installing the new version.
I am encountering issues when attempting to install and use SuperTABLE. For example, either error messages appear at installation or, once installed using an administrators account, users cannot start the application when they logon and have insufficient authority to access the appropriate folders. Can ONS help?
There are a number of reasons why an install of SuperTABLE may fail or prove difficult, and administration privileges applied to PCs can impede installation. Unfortunately ONS is unable to provide technical support regarding the installation of SuperTABLE, but further information can be found at the manufacturer's website in pages such as HERE. Note that ONS has been informed by one customer that McAfee anti-virus software would not accept SuperTABLE. Disabling the virus check enabled them to install successfully.
Corrections I am using the data on the CD,and the Helsby urban area seems to have been included as sub-division of the Greater Manchester urban area. Is this correct, and what effect does it have on the data for Greater Manchester?
The small town of Helsby,which lies between Chester and Runcorn and is a free standing urban area, has been inadvertently included as a sub-division of the Greater Manchester urban area. This was the result of a coding error detected only as the CD was in production. The Key Statistics for Helsby, which had 4,701 residents and 1,990 households in 2001, remain in the HTML and SuperTABLE
files containing data for all urban areas with 1,500 people or greater, with those of other sub-divisions of the Greater Manchester urban area. They are not shown separately in the HTML tables that contain only those areas with 20,000 people or greater as Helsby falls below the threshold for inclusion. The counts for Helsby are included in the figures for the Greater Manchester urban area as a whole which has a population of some 2.24 million. This has only a slight effect on the figures for Greater Manchester, but the counts for Helsby may be subtracted from those for Greater Manchester if required. The figures for Helsby are included correctly in the summary tables for the urban part of the Vale Royal local authority, which are available to download from the National Statistics website.
I have used some of the data from the CD, and there appear to be instances where the totals for some urban areas in some tables do not equal the sum of the urban sub-divisions that make up the urban area. Is this an error?
This is not an error. Figures for sub-divisions with fewer than 1.500 residents are not presented separately in the tables, but the total figures for the containing urban areas do include these areas, so may not necessarily be the sum of the figures for the sub-divisions shown in the tables.
I think I have found an error in the spelling of an urban area included in the tables on the CD. How can I confirm this, and are there any more?
A number of small spelling errors in the names of areas were detected only as the CD was in production. A list of these areas is included below, with the code and correctly spelled name of each area:
E12900
Bawtry
D40700
Burley in Wharfedale
J00500
Cwmllynfell
J01600
Cyfarthfa
K92600
Folkestone/Hythe
L31400
Gillingham nr Shaftesbury
E72300
Hope/Caergwrle
K05603
Llantwit Fardre
I12200
Moreton-in-Marsh
K12100
Tongwynlais
M61000
Ashurst/Netley Marsh
Some urban areas that seem as though they should be listed in the South West in the tables actually seem to be listed under Wales, and vice versa. Is this correct?
A small number of urban areas have been transposed from the South West to Wales, and vice versa, in the tables included on the CD.
The urban areas Camelford, Crossways, Feniton, Marldon, Newton Poppleford, Ramsbury, Roche, Starcross, Tatworth, The Common, Uffculme, and Wickwar, which are listed under Wales, fall entirely within England and should have been listed under South West. In addition, Hay on Wye and Chepstow Urban Area fall partly in England, and, for the purposes of these tables, should have been listed under South West. Marshfield is listed under South West but should appear under Wales.
Results for these areas can be found on the CD by using the Search facility.
Results on Welsh language skills,and identification as Welsh, for areas incorrectly listed under Wales should be disregarded. Results for these topics for Marshfield are provided on the National Statistics website HERE.
This error affects tables on the CD only. Results in printed volumes, or on the National Statistics website, are not affected by this transposition of areas.
I think that I have found some errors on the CD, how do I confirm this and find out if they have been corrected?
It is possible that some errors have been discovered on the CD since it was published. Any such errors will be noted in the Census product error log available HERE which is regularly updated. As well as explaining any errors, the log contains details of how the error has been corrected; how the corrected information can be obtained; and, where applicable, links to further information If the error log does not list the specific error you have found, please contact Census Customer Services using the contact details listed below.
Loading data into databases The data on the CD is in HTML and SuperTABLE formats and neither of these are suitable for loading into a database. In addition, the 'Save as CSV' option in SuperTABLE does not produce a comma separated file that I can use for this purpose. Is the data available in other formats?
All the tables on the CD are available in a CSV format specifically designed by ONS for loading into database systems. Copies of a CD with the tables in this format can be obtained by contacting Census Customer Services using the contact details provided below.
Finding results How do I view the Census results?
Put the CD in your CD drive. It will start automatically and you will be presented with a screen that asks you to accept or decline the Census conditions of supply. Before accepting, it is recommended that you click on the link to the Read Me file that is just above the 'DECLINE' and 'ACCEPT' options.
On acceptance of the conditions you may then choose to either browse the data or install the content of the CD on to a computer or network.
When you use the CD the main screen shows a grid with an expandable list of areas down the left-hand side, and a list of tables across the top. The expandable list allows you to view results for named urban areas and urban sub-divisions with populations of 20,000 or greater. The named areas in the list are split into five regions - the North, the Midlands, the South East, the South West, and Wales - which are then further split into a number of alphabetical ranges. Within these are all of the urban areas with populations of 20,000 or greater whose names begin with the letters in this range. Urban sub-divisions are listed alphabetically, indented under their parent urban area.
For example, to view results for the Accrington sub-division of the Accrington Urban Area:
click on the '+' next to the North which will expand a list of alphabetical ranges in the North
click on the '+' next to A - B, which will expand a list of urban areas starting with these letters -the first of these areas is the Accrington Urban Area, which has the Accrington sub-division listed beneath it.
click on the icon in the row labelled Accrington and in the column relating to the table of interest to open a new page and view Census results on that topic for the urban areas and
sub-divisions in the North A - L range.
On these pages there are links which provide access to all urban areas and urban sub-divisions with populations of 1,500 or greater, in a single file.
Alternatively If you know the name of the urban area or urban sub-division, you can use the 'Search for areas' box above the grid on the main screen to find the area you need.
Detailed instructions for using the CD are provided on the disc.
How do I find out what tables are on the CD, and what topics are covered?
A facility to browse a list of the topics and table titles is provided on the CD. The titles can be listed according to summary classifications or in table number order. Table titles are also provided on the main table selection screens.
I am using the SuperTABLE files that contain data as counts for urban areas with populations of 1,500 or greater, but cannot find equivalent files with the data in percentages. Where are they?
Due to the size of some SuperTABLE files, versions in both counts and percentages could not fit on a single CD - the percentage versions of these tables are therefore only included in HTML files. The percentage versions in SuperTABLE format are available on CD on request from Census Customer Services.
I was expecting to find versions of the Key Statistics tables that contained data for the urban and remaining parts of local authorities, and results by population size of urban area, but these do not seem to be on the CD. Where are they?
Both of these sets of tables are available to download as Excel files from the National Statistics website HERE. These tables are also available as SuperTABLE files on request from Census Customer Services.
I am using table KS01 from the CD, but no versions of the table include data for the area (hectares) or population density columns. Why is this, and is this data available elsewhere?
The data for these two columns in KS01 was not available in time to be included on the CD. Details about how to obtain this data are available HERE or from Census Customer Services.
I am using the SuperTABLE version of table KS02 from the CD, which does not seem to include the columns for mean and median age, even though the HTML versions of the tables do include them. How can I get a SuperTABLE version of KS02 that includes data for these columns?
A SuperTABLE version of KS02 that includes the columns for mean and median age is available on request from Census Customer Services.
I am using the SuperTABLE version of table KS10 from the CD, which does not seem to include the columns for average hours worked for males and females, even though the HTML versions of the tables do include them. How can I get a manipulable version of KS10 that includes data for these columns?
SuperTABLE version of KS10 that includes the columns for mean and median age is available on request from Census Customer Services.
Using SuperTABLE How do I manipulate or download the Census results?
When you use the CD, a screen is available which enables you to select Census tables for urban areas using a list. Detailed instructions are provided on the CD. On selection, a new window will appear with the option to 'manipulate or download data'. To use this option you must first have
installed the SuperTABLE software. Instructions for doing this are provided in the Read Me file which can be accessed from the screen displayed after the CD is put into the CD drive.
When I click on the icon to 'manipulate or download data' I am prompted to open the file or save the file. Which should I choose?
To view the data when browsing the CD select the option to open the file. This will enable you to view the table using SuperTABLE. Saving the file will place the file in a folder on your PC.
When I chose the option to 'manipulate or download data' for table KS06 Ethnic group there are four links to files - two for counts and two for percentages. For other tables there is only one link for each. Why is this?
For table KS06 there are separate files containing data for England and data for Wales. This means that there are four links to: percentage data for areas in England; percentage data for areas in Wales; data as counts for areas in England; and data as counts for areas in Wales. The two files with data for areas in Wales contain an extra column in the table, with information on people identifying themselves as Welsh.
Please note that the link to the percentage file for areas in England is incorrectly labelled - indicating that the file contains data for areas in England and Wales - the file only contains data for areas in England.
When I chose the option to 'manipulate or download data' for table KS24 Migration, the list and links to files is different compared to other tables. Why is this?
For most tables the introductory screens that appear when Key Statistics are selected for an area provide the user with options to:
view data as percentages for urban areas and urban sub-divisions, in a single HTML file
view and manipulate data as counts for urban areas and urban sub-divisions, in a single SuperTABLE file.
For KS24, these options are different. The data in counts and percentages are included in the same SuperTABLE files, but, there is one file that contains data for all urban areas and another separate file that contains data for urban sub-divisions.
Why does nothing happen when I click on the icon that allows me to 'manipulate or download data'?
To use this facility you must first have installed some software called SuperTABLE. This is available on the CD. Advice on installing SuperTABLE is available in the Read Me file. A link to this can be found just above the 'DECLINE' and 'ACCEPT' options in the screen displaying the conditions of supply. If you are uncertain that you can find the screen that displays the conditions of supply, remove the CD from the CD drive and put it back in. This will cause the screen to be re-displayed automatically. Accept the conditions, choose a product, and then select the installation option.
If you have already installed SuperTABLE it is possible that the install has not fully completed. This can be easily resolved by opening up SuperTABLE and then closing it. Details of how to carry out this simple procedure are in the Read Me file.
How do I get the results from SuperTABLE into Excel?
Choose the table of interest and select the option 'manipulate or download data' to open the SuperTABLE file. You can transfer this data into Excel in two ways. Firstly you can use the File/Save as menu commands, and specify Save as type Excel (.XLS) with an appropriate file name. This will create an Excel file containing all the data in the SuperTABLE file. Alternatively, use the Edit/Select All then Edit/Copy menu commands in SuperTABLE, switch to an open Excel workbook and select Edit/Paste.
How do I use SuperTABLE?
A Census specific tutorial is available from the Help option within the SuperTABLE application. Please note that the version of the help on the CD does not include additional details about the search functionality in the new version of SuperTABLE included on the CD. A version with this extra
information is downloadable from the National Statistics website HERE.
How do I return back to the original screen showing results after downloading or manipulating data using SuperTABLE?
SuperTABLE is a stand alone application and there is no facility within it to return to the browser you used to view the CD. Closing or minimising SuperTABLE will return you to your browser.
Maps I am using the maps on the CD,and they seem to include only urban areas that have populations of 20,000 or greater. Are there maps available that include all of the urban areas and sub-divisions i.e. all of those with populations of 1,500 or greater?
The maps included on the CD are the same as those included in the printed report Key Statistics for urban areas in England and Wales, and only include areas with populations of 20,000 or greater. Maps that include all urban areas and sub-divisions with populations of 1,500 or greater will be
included in the four printed regional reports that include data for these areas. These reports will be released in July 2004, and be made available for download from the National Statistics website at the same time.
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