Introduction

Geodemographic classifications are small area summary indicators of the social, economic and demographic characteristics of neighbourhoods. They are based upon the fundamental premise that place and population are inextricably linked with one other. Knowing about where somebody lives, can reveal a lot of information about that person’s identity [1]. Commercial geodemographic classifications remain very popular, despite their creation as ‘black box’ systems [2]. Such classifications use closed methods and provide little documentation of the data inputs, weighting and normalisation procedures or the specific methods of clustering. The 2001 Output Area Classification (2001 OAC: [1]), by contrast, is an open geodemographic classification built using 2001 Census data, and has been very widely used across a range of applications. The 2001 Output Area Classification assigns each Output Area in the United Kingdom into one of the following categories, based on the socio-economic characteristics of the population:

1. Blue Collar Communities
2. City Living Areas
3. Countryside
4. Prospering Suburbs
5. Constrained by Circumstances
6. Typical Traits
7. Multicultural Areas

However, the Output Area geography has been devised by ONS for the single and explicit purpose of disseminating results of the UK Census of Population. By contrast, address records typically consist of lists of unit postcodes. It is possible to match unit postcoded records to the OAC by using database software. But it requires knowledge of database programming, and there is no software utility which could be used for a simple match of the postcodes to their corresponding OAC codes.

Recently, Office of National Statistics (ONS) has created an open license version of the National Statistics Postcode Directory (ONSPD: [3]), which includes an OAC Code for each unit postcode in the UK. The OACoder software uses the ONSPD and allows the users to read in a CSV file with list of postcodes. It then appends the corresponding OAC code for each of the unit postcodes. For this paper, we have used the latest version of the ONSPD available (snapshot date: November, 2012).

OACoder is written in Java. It uses the standard Java packages to read in a CSV file containing unit postcodes, codes each unit postcode to the corresponding OAC category, and then writes each of the resultant records into a separate CSV file. OACoder is an open source software and is stored in Figshare (http://dx.doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.156599). The source code of the software is stored in SourceForge (http://sourceforge.net/projects/oacoder/). As an open source software, OACoder has reuse potential across a range of applications.

This paper discusses the development and reuse potential of the OACoder software. It outlines the architecture of the software, the testing procedures applied in its development, and the suitable operating environments for running the software. Finally, the paper explains the reuse potential of the different components of the OACoder.

Implementation/architecture

OACoder was implemented by using the object oriented paradigm, which in practice begins by dividing the software into small components (called Classes). In the later stage, each component of the software is developed. In an object oriented paradigm, a class diagram is a good way to show the relationship between different components of the software. A class diagram shows the classes that make up a system and the static relationships between them. Classes are defined in terms of their name, attributes (or data), and behaviours (or methods) [4]. The static relationships are association, aggregation, and inheritance.

Classes can be considered as components or individual entities of the system and a class diagram shows each of the components and the relationships between them. A class diagram presents the overall picture of the software or web application, and shows all of the entities that constitute a system. The structure of the classes should be finalized before actual coding of the software or web application begins. This helps the software development team or individual to identify all the objects of the system even before the coding starts. It also shows a clear picture of the software or web application under development. The following figure 1 shows the class diagram of the OACoder software:

In a software engineering process, after the architecture of the software has been finalised the next step is to choose an appropriate development technology. A range of development technologies are available for different operating platforms. These include Java, .NET (VB.NET & C#), Visual Basic, and C++. Applications developed in Visual Basic, VB.NET, C++, and C# run only on windows operating systems. However, Java could be used for developing cross platform applications. It means that applications developed in Java can run on different operating systems e.g. Linux, Unit, Mac OS, and Microsoft Windows. So, Java was chosen for the development of OACoder.

Quality Control

N/A

Operating system

OACoder was developed in Java so that it can run on multiple operating platforms. However, the first iteration of the software was developed to work on Windows operating systems. OACoder was tested on the following operating systems:

1. Windows NT, 2000, XP, Vista, 7
2. Windows Server 2008

In the future, the functionality of the OACoder can be extended to work on other operating systems e.g. Linux, Unit, Mac OS.

Programming Language

OACoder requires Java 1.5 or higher installed on the computer.

Additional system requirements

OACoder requires a minimum of 4GB memory installed on the computer. The use of a Dual Core or higher processor is recommended.

Dependencies

OACoder does not have any dependencies on other libraries. OACoder uses the standard Java packages, so does not need any additional libraries or frameworks.

List of contributors

1. Muhammad Adnan
2. Alex Singleton

Archive

Code repository

Language

English