Scottish Local Councils, Electoral Wards & Local Councillors – Political Knowledge Atlas (2 Feb 2020)

Scottish Local Councils, Electoral Wards & Local Councillors – Political Knowledge Atlas (2 Feb 2020)

NEW FOR THIS EDITION – Updated for the local by-elections that have occured since the first edition of this map was published on 9 October 2020. This includes links to the resources on the newly discovered Who Can I Vote For? by Democracy Club website, which contains crowd-sourced details of all the candidates standing in each ward or constituency at every UK local & parliamentary election / by-election since 2016.

There are 1,227 Local Councillors elected to 354 multi (3 or 4)-member Electoral Wards in Scotland’s 32 Local Councils every 5 years. Though these politicians fundamentally affect our lives on a day-to-day basis through enacting their own party’s local policies, and their oversight of bodies delivering essential services at the local level, it’s difficult to get the big picture AND the detail, AND how both have changed over time, in the one source. This first ever ‘national local’ political knowledge atlas map of every local councillor in Scotland helps solve that problem.

So building on the base framework of Local Council Electoral Ward knowledge seed branches provided by our first ever Scottish Local Council Electoral Wards General & Geographic Knowledge Atlas (30 Sep 2019), the embedded data fields of general contextual ‘facts & figures’ in the seed branches for each individual electoral ward & the wards as a whole, are now replaced by political knowlede in the form of spreadsheet tables quantifying the number of councillors by party at the ward and whole council level, as well as the overall political control, whilst the attached multiple links to general, geographic & electoral knowledge resources are retained.

The knowledge link sub-branch collections off the individual ward seed branches have been replaced with knowledge seed branches for all the currently elected Local Councillors in each ward, with those that have retired or died since they were last elected retained as sub-branches for reference. As well as their official portrait picture, there are attached links to their official profile page(s) & entry in the register of members interests. Notable changes in circumstance since they were last elected are recorded as a branch note.

Also attached to all seed branches is a variety of index markers that tag them with some of the contextual knowledge and enable dynamic filtering to hide / show map content as well as aid internal navigation.

All knowledge elements are coloured by party when appropriate to complete this this updated edition of our first ‘national local’ political knowledge map of Local Councils, Electoral Wards and Local Councillors in Scotland. Like the Local Council and Electoral Ward general atlases before, it establishes a comprehensive & robust visual knowledge framework upon which we can build many other maps about the ‘national local’ building blocks of Scotland based on the political make up of Local Councils, Electoral Wards and Elected Local Councillors in the future.

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NEW FOR THIS EDITION – Updated for the local by-elections that have occured since the first edition of this map was published on 9 October 2020. This includes links to the resources on the newly discovered Who Can I Vote For? by Democracy Club website, which contains crowd-sourced details of all the candidates standing in each ward or constituency at every UK local & parliamentary election / by-election since 2016.

Our Scottish Local Councils, Electoral Wards & Local Councillors – Political Knowledge Atlas   is the ideal starting point for ‘thumb & brain friendly’ desktop (or even ‘in the field’) research for anyone with an interest in the political make up of any, or all, of Scotland’s 32 Local Councils, their 354  Electoral Wards and 1,227 Elected Local Councillors. It is made up of visual framework of…

32 Scottish Local Council general knowledge seed branches – with unique identifying codes, embedded logo & thumbnail location map image and contextual general ‘facts & figures’ such as geographic area and population as single data fields, as well as attached multiple hyperlinks to core general & geographic knowledge resources, and index markers that also tag them with some of the contextual knowledge.

32 Local Council Electoral Wards as a Whole political knowledge seed branches – with embedded thumbnail ward overview map image, a spreadsheet table coloured by party quantifying the number of councillors by party at the whole council level as well as the overall political control, as well as attached multiple hyperlinks to core general, geographic & electoral knowledge resources.

354 Local Council Electoral Ward political knowledge seed branches – with unique identifying codes, embedded thumbnail location map image, a spreadsheet table coloured by party quantifying the number of councillors by party in the ward, as well as attached multiple hyperlinks to core general, geographic & electoral knowledge resources and index markers that also tag them with some of that contextual knowledge.

1,227 Elected Local Councillor political knowledge seed branches – coloured by political party with their official profile image as well as attached multiple hyperlinks to their official profile page(s) & entry in the register of members interests, with notable changes in circumstance since they were last elected in an attached branch note, and index markers that also tag them with some of that contextual knowledge.

Together these elements establish a comprehensive & robust visual knowledge framework upon which we can build many other maps about the ‘national local’ building blocks of Scotland based on the political make up of Elected Local Councillors and the Electoral Wards and Councils they represent in the future.

MindManager Users – As with all our maps, the MindManager (.mmap) version of this map is also both a base map to add your own content to, or a source of content that can be added to your own existing maps.

Explore the other tabs for comprehensive descriptions of the knowledge seed branches and knowledge link collections that make up this knowledge atlas map….

Part of the 'Governance & Politics' Category

Read more about it on our blog

Map Facts

Here are some of the ‘fun facts’ 😉 about Scotland’s 1,227 Local Councillors that we have discovered (and embedded!) during the process of creating this map…

Density by Geography

Smallest & Largest

0
sq km per councillor

Hillhead Ward [Glasgow City Council]

0
sq km per councillor

North, West and Central Sutherland Ward [Highland Council]

Population (2018 Est)

Smallest & Largest

0
people

Lerwick North Ward [Shetland Islands Council]

0
people

Southside/Newington Ward [City of Edinburgh Council]

Density by Population

Smallest & Largest

0
people per councillor

An Taobh Siar agus Nis Ward [Comhairle nan Eilean Siar]

0
people per councillor

Southside/Newington Ward [City of Edinburgh Council]

Gender Balance

All Councillors, Worst & Best

All Councillors

(362 out of 1,227 Female Councillors)

Councillors - Female: 362 Male: 865

Least Balanced

Comhairle nan Eilean Siar

Councillors - Female: 0 Male: 31

Most Balanced

Glasgow City Council

Councillors - Female: 30 Male: 55

Map Features

We take full advantage of MindManager’s many unique ‘information cartography’ features when creating our unique maps so we can pack in 1000’s of ‘bits’ of knowledge into a single, visually structured, intuitive to navigate document that can be easily shared. Here are the main features of this Scottish Local Councils, Electoral Wards & Local Councillors Political Knowledge Atlas (9 Oct 2019)

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Big Map With 100's Of Branches & Links And Capacity For Plenty More

With 8,670 knowledge resource links over 2,484 branches, this map is a useful, contextual knowledge resource in it’s own right, as well as being a visually structured index of the best definitive / official / plain old useful knowledge resources available in the public domain about the political makeup of Scotland’s 1,227 Local Councillors, 354 Electoral Wards and 32 Local Councils. Thanks to MindManager’s unique capabilities it has plenty of spare capacity for further content to be added in the future.

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Main Branches Create Robust Visual Framework For 'Seed Branches'

The 1st level branches form the main (‘org-tree’) visual framework within which the map content of interest sits. It is a simple ‘A – Z’ layout, with the 32 Scottish Local Councils arranged alphabetically in 5 columns of approximately equal sizes to pack as much in to a ‘single screen view’ as possible.

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Visually Rich 'Knowledge Seed' Branch For Every Scottish Local Council

The 2nd level branches are ‘knowledge seed points’ for each Scottish Local Council, to which links to public domain knowledge resources about them are attached. Visually rich & information dense, they contain the name & official area identifier codes in variably formatted (‘rich’) text – a unique MindManager featue. Visually the combined logo & thumbnail location map image aids user navigation and provides spatial context, whilst the variation in topic shape indicates the status of the borders with neighbouring councils – all coastlal (ie. island), mixed or all land (ie. landlocked). The full list of knowledge embedded within, and attached to, this seed topic is given in the map summary above.

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Visually Rich Electoral Wards, Local Councillors & Political Control 'Seed Branches'

The 3rd level branches are ‘knowledge seed points’ for the political make up of the Local Council, both in terms of wards – there is a good quality thumbnail image (ie. still readable & usable when zoomed in) of the official Local Government Boundary Commission ward overview map to provide spatial context – whilst a table shows the current total local councillors by party, coloured by party. The political control of the council is also shown – be it an overall majority rule by one party group, a minority administration or a coalition between 2 or more party groups (including ‘independent’ councillors). There are also multiple hyperlinks to public domain general, geographic & electoral knowledge resources about the council wards as a whole. The full list of knowledge embedded within, and attached to, this seed topic is given in the map summary above.

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Visually Rich 'Poilitical Knowledge Seed' Branch For Each Of Scotland's 334 Electoral Wards

The 4th level branches are political ‘knowledge seed points’ for individual electoral wards. As for the ‘Local Council’, they are a visually rich mixture of embedded and attached knowledge. They contain the name & official ward identifier codes in variably formatted (‘rich’) text, and a thumbnail location map image to aid user navigation and provide spatial context. This is supplemented by the variation in topic shape, which indicates the status of the borders with neighbouring electoral wards – all coastlal (ie. island), mixed or all land (ie. landlocked). There is also a table showing the current total local councillors by party, coloured by party, as well as multiple hyperlinks to public domain general, geographic & electoral knowledge resources about the ward. The full list of knowledge embedded within, and attached to, this seed topic is given in the map summary above.

*An asterisk indicates noteworthy happenings in the ward since the last Local Council Election – such as the resignation / death of a councillor and the subsequent by-election to elect their successor – which are recorded in the attached topic note.

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Visually Rich 'Political Knowledge Seed' Branch For Each Of Scotland's 1,227 Currently Elected Local Councillors

The 5th level branches are ‘knowledge seed points’ for individual Local Councillors, coloured by their poitical party allegiance. They contain the councillors name prefixed by ‘Cllr’ and suffixed by their party allegiance in brackets, as well as a thumbnail of their official portrait picture. Their ward and council names are also included to make it easier to keep track of ‘who’s who and where’s where’ when many councillor branches are open on screen at one time. There are also multiple hyperlinks to public domainl knowledge resources about the councillor. This is currently limited to their official councillor page, which will contain a variable amount of useful information depending on the individual council. There is also a link to their official register of interests if it is not contained within their main page. The full list of knowledge embedded within, and attached to, this seed topic is given in the map summary above.

*An asterisk indicates noteworthy changes in circumstances of the local councillor since the last Local Council Election, which are recorded in the attached topic note. This could be losing the support of their party, on a temporary or permamnent basis, or their resignation or death. If they are no longer a councillor the reason why will be shown in [square brackets] and all the text will be in italics. Eventually they will be moved to become a sub-branch of their successor once the by-election has taken place.

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Attached Multiple Hyperlinks To Public Domain Knowledge Resources

Seed Branches have multiple hyperlinks attached to them (yet another unique feature of MindManager maps), which link to the best definitive / official / plain old useful knowledge resources available in the public domain about the subject. The ‘definable link text’ gives clarty as to the resource being linked to (which can be very variable if left to the default). As well as increasing the amount of knowledge that can be ‘squeezed’ into a map without increasing the ‘visual clutter’ of additional branches, it means these links can be retained if the seed branches are used in other maps, or this map is re-purposed. The full list of multiple knowledge resource hyperlinks attached to all the seed topics in this map is given in the map summary above.

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Index Marker Tag Groups Enable 'Geo Intelligent' & Other Map Filtering

Branches in the map may be tagged with one or more ‘index markers’ from one or more ‘marker groups’. These enable intelligent map filtering and quick navigation. Many of the tags are ‘geographic’ in nature such that branches are tagged with ‘where’ they are – eg. administrative or electoral areas. This gives the map in-built ‘spatial intelligence’ and the ability to be ‘geo-filtered’. (MindManager software users can copy and paste any of the marker groups in any other maps). The full list of index marker tags attached to  all the seed topics in this map is given in the map summary above.

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Embedded Data Elements Provide Additional Contextual Knowledge

Data features embedded within seed branches – like spreadsheets, charts & data fields (another unique MindManager feature) – provide another ‘channel’ of knowlegde that adds context to the more detailed knowledge contained in the public domain resources linked to in the map. Just like in a normal spreadsheet, some of the data field values may be ‘auto-calculated’ from the others using formulae, creating data not found elsewhere in the public domain. They can also be used to ‘conditionally format’ the map eg. colouring the branches based on a particular data value (the equivelant of ‘thematic mapping’ in GIS).

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Map Legend Branch Describes Each Topic 'Type' With Links To Further Information

Every map needs to have a legend that explains the cartographic structure, colours and symbology used. The ‘Map Legend’ branch describes the sub-components of each ‘type’ of map branch, with links to further knowledge resources where necessary.

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'Contributing Online Knowledge-bases Branch' With Links To Further Information

We hunt down and assess many official / definitive / at least practical & useful online knowledge resources in the process of creating our maps. The ‘Contributing Online Knowledge-bases’ branch has links to all the ones that are actually linked to in the main map content, as well as some others that are a good source of general knowledge about the subject. It is a frustrating fact of life that some resources are organised better than others, and not all are ‘linkable to’ at the individual ‘building block’ level and so can’t be included in seed branches.

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Built-in Topic Styles Enable Quick Visual Reformatting

The visual formatting of all the map elements is controlled via our structured system of topic styles, which makes for easier alteration ‘on the hoof’ and therefore quicker map building. (MindManager software users can change the appearance of the whole map with just a few clicks eg. to match their own ‘in-house’ style & branding.)

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Image_Copernicus_163x160
To know that we know what we know, and to know that we do not know what we do not know, that is true knowledge.
Nicolaus Copernicus
16th Century Mathematician & Astronomer
Rab-C-Nesbitt_300x300
Tae ken that we ken whit we ken, and tae ken that we dinnae ken whit we dinnae ken, that's whit it's aw aboot, ye ken?
Rab C. Nesbitt
Contemporary Scottish Philosopher
Rab-C-Nesbitt_300x300
And whilst we're aboot it, tae ken where the hell ye get haud of whit ye need to ken, when ye need to ken it, if ye dinnae ken it awready?
Rab C. Nesbitt
Contemporary Scottish Philosopher
Photo_Profile_Angus_McDonald_896x896
These knowledge maps show the 'national local' building blocks of Scotland as they exist today, but they can also be used to strategically think about what could be in the future, and operationally plan the delivery of what will be tomorrow.
Angus McDonald
Scotland The Map Project Director and Knowledge Mappers Founder & CEO
Image_Ralph-Waldo-Emerson_1920x1080
Do not only go where the path may lead, go instead where there is no path and leave a trail.
Ralph Waldo Emerson
Philosopher and Transcendentalist
Image_Erwin-Schrodinger_440x440
The task is, not so much to see what no one has yet seen; but to think what nobody has yet thought, about that which everybody sees.
Erwin Schrodinger
Nobel Prize-Winning Physicist & Cat Owner (Part-time)
Image_Gilbert-Hovey-Grosvenor_250x250
A map is the greatest of all epic poems. It's lines and colours show the realisation of great dreams.
Gilbert Hovey Grosvenor
'Father of Photo-Journalism' & 1st Full-Time Editor Of National Geographic Magazine

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We are continually striving to improve our Scottish knowlegde maps and value your feedback, suggestions & comments.

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