For a single column the following views are returned. Copyright ED-Line Consortium Descartes can be used to interact with any one of these views. This technique allows potentially interesting spatial patterns to be explored quickly and easily. This is useful for investigating 'per capita' or 'area density' values, which are more usefully plotted on choropleth maps than totals. Two or more variables can also be explored simultaneously and dynamic linking between views ensures that it is always possible to compare values in a zone on one view with those in the same zone on a different view.
Maps produced by Descartes allow panning and zooming, and the colour symbolism to be changed.
This offers a powerful method for exploring the resulting map image by interacting directly with the map. The overall approach is working towards overcoming barriers to the use of the Census through interactive visualization. Maps produced in this article are based on data provided with the support of the ESRC and JISC and use boundary material which is copyright of the Crown and the Ed-Line Consortium. Census data is Crown copyright.