This polygon shapefile contains high-resolution output area (OA) boundaries and population statistics for West Somerset, England. Output areas (OAs) are created for Census data, specifically for the output of census estimates. The OA is the lowest geographical level at which census estimates are provided. There are 175,434 output areas in England and Wales. They were created around a target of 125 resident households, and 37.5% lie between 120 and 129 households, whilst 79.5% lie between 110 and 139 households. Some 5% lie between 40 households - the confidentiality threshold - and 99 households, and many of these are a single parish (or community in Wales). The output areas nest within ward and parish (community in Wales) boundaries legally in place at the end of 2002. Draft boundaries were used in a few local authorities where final versions did not become available. Information on the operative dates for the district, ward and parish boundaries in each local authority is listed Here (as an Excel file), together with the number of Output Areas in each authority. This dataset is intended for researchers, students, and policy makers for reference and mapping purposes, and may be used for basic applications such as viewing, querying, and map output production, or to provide a basemap to support graphical overlays and analysis with other spatial data. Great Britain, Office for National Statistics. (2004). Output Area Boundaries: West Somerset, England, 2001. Great Britain. Ordnance Survey. Available at: http://purl.stanford.edu/dz967qs5854. This layer is presented in the WGS84 coordinate system for web display purposes. Downloadable data are provided in native coordinate system or projection.
