Interactive Maps

Here are a selection of interactive maps that may be used to explore our findings in detail

Participatory GIS (PGIS) data on community affiliation.

This map show data collected from 33 participants using the Map-Me participatory mapping platform, in response to requests for them to identify areas that they considered to be 'Catholic', 'Protestant' or 'Mixed'.

As might be expected, this map shows a great deal of perceived segregation between the residential areas that are occupied by Catholic and Protestant communities, with relatively few areas denoted as mixed. There are also low levels of disagreement between the various groups (red, green, blue, black), reinforcing the notion of a ‘shared understanding’ of boundaries existing between communities.

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Participatory GIS (PGIS) data on shared spaces.

This map shows data collected from the same 33 participants using Map-Me, this time in response to the question: “Please spray any local areas that you would define as public spaces that are shared by both communities”. This time with the respective colours refer to the self-reported community affiliation of each participant: Catholic, Protestant, and those who do not identify with either community.

This map reinforces the idea of ‘shared understanding’ of territory between communities, and it is interesting that the locations that have identified as 'shared' are typically shopping centres, leisure centres and similar. Parks also feature prominently in this dataset, though it is interesting that there is some variation in which parks are considered as shared, and by whom.

GPS traces revealing residents' movements

This map shows the movements of 196 participants over a two week period, revealing where community members do and do not mix in North Belfast. The data was collected using the Belfast Pathways Android App, as is described in the For Researchers section of this website. Participants' locations were collected every four seconds and stored in a database. They have been coloured according to the community membership of the participant: Catholic, Protestant, and those who do not identify with either community.

The outstanding pattern in the dataset of GPS traces is the seemingly indiscriminate mixing of communities along main roads, and the lack of any such mixing in residential areas.

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