Rural Data Hub

Build your own custom area profile

Create your own bespoke area profile based on
Northern Ireland small area geographies

Get Started
Profile Builder Illustration

How to use the profile builder

Step 1 – Select an area

First

Select either Super Data Zones (SDZ) or Data Zones (DZ) as your chosen geography

Then

Select as many individual geographies as you want from the map

Or

Select a predefined grouping of your chosen geographies using the area selector

Area selector and individual map selections can be combined

Once you're done, click “Go to area profile” to generate outputs based on your selection

Step 2 - View your profile

Select the statistics you are interested in using the Statistic selector. These will be aggregated for the areas in your selected profile.

You can explore different views of your profile:

  • Chart view - A chart for each statistic, broken down by its sub-categories
  • Table view - A table for each statistic, broken down by its sub-categories
  • Urban/Rural/Mixed Chart view - A chart for each statistic, broken down by its sub-categories, with Urban/Rural/Mixed area comparisons
  • Urban/Rural/Mixed Table view - A table for each statistic, broken down by its sub-categories, with Urban/Rural/Mixed area comparisons

All views include comparison to Northern Ireland (NI) as a default. An .xlsx download of the table data is available as is a snapshot image of any view of your area profile.

Which datasets are available?

Loading SDZ datasets...

Loading DZ datasets...

Dashboard Functionality Overview

The Rural Data Hub has been designed to support interactive selection, profile generation, and comparison of demographic, social, and economic data across Northern Ireland. Below are the key functions of the dashboard.

1. Map Interface and Area Selection

The main map interface allows you to make custom area selections using the following tools:

  • Geography selector (left panel): Allows switching between Super Data Zones (SDZ) and Data Zones (DZ) for area selection.
  • Multi-area selector (left panel): Enables users to navigate directly to an LGD boundary and optionally group zones within it.
  • Map controls:
    • Toggle display of urban/rural/mixed classifications on the map.
    • Clear all current selections.
    • Reset the map zoom and position to default Northern Ireland extent.
  • Go to Area Profile button: Generates a starter profile for the selected zones and transitions to the output view.
2. Area Profile and Data Viewer

Once you have generated a profile, a range of configurable views and controls are available:

  • Dataset selector (left panel): Enables filtering by domain, including Demography, Education, Economy, and Health. Select datasets that you wish to add to your area profile.
  • Area Profile Title Card: Displays the total aggregated population for the selected area, and a summary of the areas that have been selected. The Area Profile can be renamed by clicking on the title.
  • Change Area Selections button: Return to the map view and modify the selections you have made.
  • Output view controls: There are 4 different ways to view the data output of your selections:
    • Chart View: Displays distributions by dataset sub-category, as percentage bar charts.
    • Urban/Rural Chart View: Provides the same distributions as the standard charts but additionally broken down by urban, rural, and mixed area classifications.
    • Table View: Tabulates raw counts and percentage values for each dataset.
    • Urban/Rural Table: Displays the same tabulated data as the standard tables but also broken down by urban, rural, and mixed area classifications.
3. Export and Download Options

The dashboard includes export functionality for further analysis and reporting:

  • Excel export: Downloads tabular data for all current selections as an Excel file.
  • Area profile image download: Allows saving a PNG version of the active tab view (charts or tables).
4. Further Information

All datasets presented in the dashboard are accompanied by source links. These appear at the bottom of the output panel and direct users to the relevant Census or NISRA data sources for reference, metadata, and further documentation.