Scottish Local Councils, Electoral Wards & Local Councillors – Political Knowledge Atlas (30 Nov 2020)
- November 30, 2020
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 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 4th edition of the first ever ‘national local’ political knowledge atlas map of Scotland helps solve that problem
Based on our latest ward general, geographic & electoral knowledge map, the embedded contextual data fields in the seed branches for each individual electoral ward & the wards as a whole are now replaced by 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.
There are also now knowledge seed branches for all the current 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.
All elements are coloured by party when appropriate to make this map a truly ‘visual’ political knowledge base of all Scotland’s local councils, electoral wards and elected councillors.
**NEW FOR 4th EDITION (v1.4) – Updated for the local by-elections that have occured since the 3rd edition (v1.3) was published on 18 May2020, with knowledge seed branches added for all the newly elected councillors (those of the predecessors are retained as sub-branches for reference). (Most of the elections were originally scheduled from March to mid May, however only the earliest one took place as planned before the Coronoavirus Crisis caused the postponement of the others. Further elections are planned but will take place in March 2021, assuming public health conditions allow.) W have also added a Local Council By-Election Log branch to make it easier to see where elections have taken place.**

Angus McDonald
Scotland The Map Project Director and Knowledge Mappers Founder & CEO
Part of the 'Governance & Politics' Category
- On This Page
Map
The options to view / download this Scottish Local Councils, Electoral Wards & Local Councillors Political Knowledge Atlas (30 Nov 2020) map are in the panel below. If you are new to our maps then please browse the Knowledge Map Mini Guide first before viewing / downloading. Further down this page you can also see a summary of the map content, the main features, and some fun facts 😉 we discovered when compiling it. Please provide your feedback, or suggest additional content, in the map comments, and please also share it with your networks. You can also find other maps using the map finder panel, or the map of maps.
View / Download Options
Anybody can view the html version of this map as a standalone, full-screen webpage in a new browser tab, using the ‘View HTML map full screen’ button below. However to download the HTML5 file – for viewing on-, or off-, line in any modern browser, on any device, without additional plugins – you will need to register for basic membership (it’s free 🙂 To download the original map in MindManager (.mmap) format – for amending, adapting & repurposing in MindManager software – you will need PRO membership, available for a modest annual, or one off lifetime, fee. Already joined? Login here.
**NOTE – This ‘visually rich’ knowledge map has a large number of ‘seed branches’ which, with their associated embedded images, greatly increases the size of the HMTL file when they are all included. So users on slower internet connections and/or more limited capacity devices such as mobile phones can still work with it, we have removed varying amount of the image content and made the map available as ‘hi-fi’ (no images removed), ‘mid-fi’ (all 1,227 local councillor images removed) and ‘lo-fi’ (all ward location maps removed) versions. All versions can be accessed below.**
'Lo-Fi' Map
‘Lo-Fi’ – Minimal image content. Those deemed essential for user navigation – logos and thumbnail location maps on Local Council branches – are retained, but all other images have been removed to reduce the file size.
View 'Lo-Fi' HTML map full screen
View 'Lo-Fi' HTML map full screen
Download 'Lo-Fi' Map As An HTML5 (.html) File [11.4 MB]
Download 'Lo-Fi' Map As A MindManager (.mmap) File [7.0 MB]
'Mid-Fi' Map
‘Mid-Fi’ – Reduced image content. Useful images, such as logos and ‘thumbnail location maps’, are retained, but the photo’s of all 1,227 councillor have been removed.
View 'Mid-Fi' HTML map full screen
View 'Mid-Fi' HTML map full screen
Download 'Mid-Fi' Map As An HTML5 (.html) File [23.2 MB]
Download 'Mid-Fi' Map As A MindManager (.mmap) File [15.8 MB]
'Hi-Fi' Map
‘Hi-Fi’ – Full Iimage content. All the images included in the original, full version of the map when created are included. ‘Hi-Fi’ maps are probably best avoided when looking on mobile devices of more limited capacity, but that is not to say that they can’t be, and that they do not work fine once they have loaded. It will just take longer for them to load, say 30s – 2 mins depending on the connection.
View 'Hi-Fi' HTML map full screen
View 'Hi-Fi' HTML map full screen
Download 'Hi-Fi' Map As An HTML5 (.html) File [50.8 MB]
Download 'Hi-Fi' Map As A MindManager (.mmap) File [36.5 MB]
Knowledge Map Mini Guide
We create our digital knowledge maps linking to 100’s of public domain knowledge resources about the ‘building blocks’ of Scotland using MindManager, the market leading information mapping software for over 20 years. One of MindManger’s many unique features is the ability to publish a knowledge map as an HTML5 document that…
- retains all of the knowledge, and most of the interactivity, of the original.
- is viewable in any modern browser, on any device, as a stand-alone webpage that doesn’t require any external plug-ins or internet connection to ‘work’ (ie. they can be viewed offline).
- can be embedded in an existing webpage using a standard i-frame and URL (whilst being hosted elsewhere).
- can be shared in the usual ways that files are shared, including being sent as an email attachment.
- is ‘thumb friendly’ for viewing & interacting on touch screen devices such as mobile phones.
If you have not encountered an HTML knowledge map before, treat it like a Google Map. You can pan about, zoom in and out, and clicking on map branches will activate content (single hyperlinks, multiple hyperlinks, notes, embedded data feature toggles etc.). Notes & hyperlinks will open up in a side panel in the browser window (mobile users – see ‘Tips For Mobile Users’ below).
We make the HTML versons of our maps available to the world for free by publishing them within ‘map blog posts’ on the ScotlandtheMap.info WordPress blog website. This video explains the layout of the posts and how the maps can be viewed online as a stand alone page in your web browser, or downloaded to your device and viewed offline at your convenience.
As stated already our HTML knowledge maps are “thumb friendly and viewable in any modern browser, on any device”. Here are a few extra tips to enhance your user experience if viewing maps on a small touch-screen device…
1) Vertical Scrolling Of Webpage – If your ‘scrolling thumb’ is anywhere within the embedded map window when it slides across the touch-screen, you will pan around the map rather than scroll the webpage as a whole. To counter this there is always a narrow margin around the map panel at the edges of the screen, which you can ‘drag’ to move the page. (Viewing the map full screen in a new browser tab also gets round this issue :-).
2) Activating Branch Content – Clicking on map branches will activate content. Notes & the list of attached hyperlinks will open up in a side panel in the browser window. On mobile phones this panel can be take up a disconcertingly large proportion of the screen. If you don’t want to access this content, just click on the map background away from the activated branch, and the panel will disappear.
3) Following Hyperlinks – If there is a single hyperlink on a branch then clicking on the favicon symbol at the end once will activate it and the web resource linked to will open up in a new browser tab. If the topic has multiple hyperlinks attached (another unique MindManager feature) then these can only be followed by clicking on the link in the list in the side panel that opens up within the browser window when the branch is clicked. Note that notes and hyperlinks are on separate tabs within the sidepanel if both are present. Hyperlinks are listed in the ‘Attachments’ tab.
4) Map Content Version – Work the ‘Lo-Fi’ (most images removed) version of the map if your device has limited capacity. But that is not to say that the ‘Hi-Fi’ version can’t be viewed, and they do not work fine once they have loaded. It will just take longer for them to load, say 30s – 2 mins depending on the connection. For example we have viewed & worked with the ‘Hi-Fi’ version of the Scottish Local Councillor map – 2000+ branches, 6000+ hyperlinks, 1600+ embedded images, including a location map for all 32 councils and 324 electoral wards as well as a colour photo of every one of the 1227 councillors – on a Samsung Galaxy S7 no problem.
1) Maps In Native MindManager (.mmap) Format – Whilst our HTML maps are interactive, they are not editable. This can only be done within MindManager and the maps republished as HTML. Generally speaking ScotlandtheMap maps will be available to download in native MindManager (.mmap) format from the Knowledge Mappers map store. Click the button below the map if present to go to the map page on the store website (opens up in a new browser tab).
2) Other Information Mapping Software Users – Many other information software programmes have the capability of importing MindManager map files (MindManager was the first software of it’s type and has been the market leader for over 20 years). A word of caution however. Our maps fully utilise the large range of unique ‘information cartography’ features available in MindManager – large maps (1000’s of branches), ‘rich (ie. variable) formatting’ of topic text, multiple hyperlinks, embedded data features (spreadsheets, charts & topic properties), layout variations within the same map etc. – which are not supported by other information mapping software programs. Thus even if your program can import a MindManager file, how it copes with each of these features, and what it renders on-screen as a result, will vary from the MindManager version so user beware!
Map Summary
Scottish Local Councils, Electoral Wards & Local Councillors – Political Knowledge Atlas (30 Nov 2020)
Description
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 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 3rd edition of the first ever ‘national local’ political knowledge atlas map of Scotland helps solve that problem
Based on our latest ward general, geographic & electoral knowledge map, the embedded contextual data fields in the seed branches for each individual electoral ward & the wards as a whole are now replaced by 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.
There are also now knowledge seed branches for all the current 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.
All elements are coloured by party when appropriate to make this map a truly ‘visual’ political knowledge base of all Scotland’s local councils, electoral wards and elected councillors.
**NEW FOR 4th EDITION (v1.4) – Updated for the local by-elections that have occured since the 3rd edition (v1.3) was published on 18 May2020, with knowledge seed branches added for all the newly elected councillors (those of the predecessors are retained as sub-branches for reference). (Most of the elections were originally scheduled from March to mid May, however only the earliest one took place as planned before the Coronoavirus Crisis caused the postponement of the others. Further elections are planned but will take place in March 2021, assuming public health conditions allow.) W have also added a Local Council By-Election Log branch to make it easier to see where elections have taken place.**
'Knowledge Seed' Branches
With embedded features and attached multiple hyperlinks & index marker tags, ‘seed branches’ provide a ‘base level’ of contextual knowledge resources about the subject, which is retained if the seed branch is repurposed / used in other maps in future.
**NOTE – This ‘visually rich’ knowledge map has a large number of ‘seed branches’ which, with their associated embedded images, greatly increases the size of the HMTL file when they are all included. So users on slower internet connections and/or more limited capacity devices such as mobile phones can still work with it, we have removed varying amount of the image content and made the map available as ‘hi-fi’ (no images removed), ‘mid-fi’ (all 1,227 local councillor images removed) and ‘lo-fi’ (all ward location maps removed) versions. All versions can be accessed from the map viewing / download options panel.**
Scottish Local Council Seed Branch
Logo & thumbnail location map of the council relative to the other councils in Scotland
Council unique identifying codes for cross-referencing with other data…
- Council Type
- ISO3166-2 code
- ONS code
- EU NUTS code
Council & Area ‘Facts & Figures’ embedded as single data fields…
- Total Elected Councillors
- Total Electoral Wards
- Council Area Total
- Council Area Non-Inland
- Council Area Inland
- Council Population (latest est)
- Population Density
Index Marker Tags for additional contextual knowledge and dynamic map filtering…
- Border ‘Status’ (island, landlocked or mixed)
- Mutually Bordering Councils
- UK EU-NUTS2 Region
- ISO3166-2 code
- ONS Code
- UK Parliament Constituency
- Scottish Parliament Region
- Scottish Parliament Constituency
- Strategic Development Planning Authority
Shape of topic indicates nature of boundaries with neighbouring councils…
- all coastal (‘island’)
- all land (‘land-locked’)
- mixed
General & Geographic Knowledge Resources
Council Website – Home page
Council Website – A-Z page
Council Website – Councillors directory page
Council Website – Map page(s) (if present)
Convention of Scottish Local Authorities (COSLA) – Council Profile
Gazetteer for Scotland – Index of Entries In Council Area
Local Government Boundary Commission for Scotland – Council Area Overview Map 2017 [PDF]
National Map Library of Scotland Boundaries (1840’s, 1960’s & 2017) Map Viewer – Council Area
National Records of Scotland – Council Area Profile
Scottish Government Statistics Portal – Council Area
Scottish Index of Multiple Deprivation – SIMD16 Council Area Profile [PDF]
Scottish Index of Multiple Deprivation Online Map – View centred on Council Area
Wikipedia – Article on the geographic area administered by the council
Wikipedia – Lists of articles about places in the Council Area
All Local Council Electoral Wards Seed Branch
Thumbnail boundary map screenshot image of the currently applicable Local Government Boundary Commission for Scotland static ward boundary map.
Table of current total councillors by party for whole council
Overall governance arrangements for council
General & Geographic Knowledge Resources
Council Website – ‘Councillors by Ward’ page (general ‘Councillors’ page if not present)
Council Website – Static ward boundary maps [PDF’s] (if present)
Council Website – Online interactive mapping ward boundaries (if present)
Electoral Knowledge Resources
Council Website – ‘Election’ pages
Denis Mollison Scottish Council Election May 2017 – Summary of Election Results for Council Area
Wikipedia – Summary article of 2017 Scottish Council Election Results for Council Area
Wikipedia – Article sub-section summarising changes to councillor composition since the last election
Individual Electoral Ward Seed Branch
Thumbnail location map of the ward relative to the other wards in the council area
Ward unique identifying codes for cross-referencing with other data…
- LGBCS Ward Number
- ISO3166-2 code
- ONS code
Table of current total councillors by party for the ward
Index Marker Tags for additional contextual knowledge and dynamic map filtering…
- Border ‘Status’ (island, landlocked or mixed)
- Scottish Parliamentary Region
- UK Parliament Constituency
- ONS Code
Shape of topic indicates nature of boundaries with neighbouring councils…
- all coastal (‘island’)
- all land (‘land-locked’)
- mixed
General & Geographic Knowledge Resources
Council Website – ‘Councillors by Ward’ page (general ‘Councillors’ page if not present)
Council Website – Individual ward profiles (if present)
Scottish Government Statistics Portal – Individual electoral ward profile
Council Website – Static Ward Map [PDF]Council Website: Static Ward Map [PDF]
Electoral Knowledge Resources
Denis Mollison – Scottish Council Election May 2017 individual ward results
[*NEW*] Who Can I Vote For? by Democracy Club – Crowd-sourced details of all the candidates for all elections to the constituency since 2016 (as well as the 2015 & 2010 general elections)
Wikipedia – Scottish Council Election May 2017 individual ward results
Individual Local Councillors Seed Branch
Official profile picture
Name (Party Affiliation)
*Asterisk indicates noteworthy changes in councillor circumstances (recorded in topic note}
[REASON FOR DEPARTURE] (if applicable)
Index Marker Tags for additional contextual knowledge and dynamic map filtering…
- Gender
- Political Affiliation (Elected) [*NEW*]
- Political Affiliation (Current) [*NEW*]
- Electoral Status [*NEW*]
- Active Status [*NEW*]
- Scottish Local Council (SLC) [*NEW*]
General Knowledge Resources
Council Website – Individual Councillors Page
Council Website – Councillors
Register of Interests (may or may not be a separate link)
E-mail Address
Electoral Knowledge Resources
[*NEW*] Who Can I Vote For? by Democracy Club – Crowd-sourced details of all the candidates & successfully elected representatives for all UK national and local elections since 2016 (as well as the 2015 & 2010 general elections). An individual’s page therefore shows their electoral history, with the content varying if they are involved in an active election campaign. Note theis could be in a different political ‘arena’ eg. a local councillor may be up for election as a member of the UK or Scottish Parliaments.
Knowledge Resource Link Collections
The links to official / definitive / ‘plain old useful’ public domain knowledge resources contained in these branches is the main focus of this map. Each link is attached to a single sub-branch which desctibes what it is, with sub-branches grouped into related collections, such as ‘General Knowledge Resources’ or ‘Geographic Knowledge Resources’. This makes for easier, more ‘thumb friendly’ browsing & knowledge discovery. Sub-branches can easily become ‘seed points’ if users start adding newly new knowledge discovered during their browsing.
**NOTE – There are no knowledge link collection sub-branches in this map at the moment, only multiple hyperlinks on seed branches. With 1,227 councillors in Scotland, every potential additional link ‘type’ will added 1,227 more branches to the map. Aftr embedded images, additional branches are the next biggest factor affecting map handling performance. We will however experiment in future editions**
Changelog
We are continually striving to find further, freely accessible in the public domain definitive / official / plain old useful 🙂 knowledge resources to link to in our maps, as well as keeping the existing links up to date. The changelogs below summarise the actions undertaken to initially create – and subsequently update – this knowledge map.
Scottish Local Councils, Electoral Wards & Local Councillors – Political Knowledge Atlas (18 May 2020)
Version – 1.3
Links to knowledge resources – 8,687
Map Branches – 2,502
File Sizes – [‘Hi-Fi’] HTML5 – 50.8 MB; MindManager (.mmap) – 36.5 MB | [‘Mid-Fi’] HTML5 – 23.2 MB; MindManager (.mmap) – 15.8 MB | [‘Lo-Fi’] HTML5 – 11.4 MB; MindManager (.mmap) – 7.0 MB
Basemap Framework(s) –
- Scottish Local Councils, Electoral Wards & Local Councillors – Political Knowledge Atlas (2 Feb 2020) (v1.1)
- Scottish Local Council Electoral Wards – General & Geographic Knowledge Atlas (16 May 2020) (v1.2)
- Scottish Local Councils, Electoral Wards & Local Councillors – Political Knowledge Atlas (9 Oct 2019) (v1.0)
Actions – The main work done in making this version of the map was…
- Addition of links to knowledge resources about the one local by-election that has taken place since the 2nd edition (v1.2) of this map was published on 2 Feb 2020.
- Adding branches for the newly elected councillors, with resigned / deceased councillor branches retained as sub-branches for reference.
- To keep track of things going forward, creation of list of upcoming by-elections (postponed due to the Coronavirus Crisis) as sub-branches of the Electoral Management Board for Scotland (EMB) branch in the Contributing Online Knowledge-bases > Electoral Knowledge Resources collection (these are taken from EMB’s Log of Council By-elections, the official register). This could potentially be expanded to be a list of all local by-elections that have taken place since the last national local election in 2017, as well as of those to come.
- Replacement of index marker tag group for councillor seed branches with and . This makes it posssible to filter the map show councillors that have changed political affiliation since elected.
- Re-organisation of to show the manner of their election – either at the 2017 national local election or a subsequent by-election. In time further tags can be added to show all the elections at which the councillor was elected (in line with the UK Parliament MP’s map).
- Addition of index marker tag group for councillor seed branches to indicate whether a councillor is still serving as elected, has changed political afiliation since elected, or has resigned, died or refused to take office and whether or not a successor has been elected yet. This makes it posssible to filter the map show where by-elections are pending (even more so in these times when all elections have been suspended due to the pandemic).
- Addition of index marker tag group, tagging each councillor wiht the council they serve. Though this is obviously indicated visually htrough the structure of the map, adding the tage enables the map to be easily filtered to show only councillors from a particular local council.
- Deprecating image content to produce map versions with reduced overall file size.
Note(s)
i) Given the reasonably constant ‘churn’ of local councillors due to illness, death and party shenanigans, it’s always been our intention to update this map every 3 to 4 months. The precisie timing though is dependant on the actual dates of the local by-elections, which tend to come in clumps. There was a slew of elections planned from March to 14th May, however it transpires that only the earliest one took place as planned, whilst the rest have been postponed due to the Coronoavirus Crisis.
ii) The UK Government has posponed all local elections in England & Wales until the 6th of May 2021 at least. However though the scheduled elections in Scotland have been postponed too, the re-scheduled dates where set are in October & November. Presumably it will depend on the public health guidance issued by the Scottish Government closer to the time as to whether they will go ahead as planned.
iii) As there is only one declared result since theis map was last published, we did contemplate just amending that last map with that one election and re-publishing it. In the end though we thought that the momentous events & consequences of the Covid Pandemic were best acknowledged in a separate map.
iv) The addition of links to the WhoCanIVoteFor? website – the last local council election & subsequent by-elections in the ward as well as a candidates page for every local councillor – has added a further ~1,500 links and ~500 branches mare than the first edition of this map. Thus for this updated version we will hold to our policy of keeping links as attached to the seed branches only and not quadrupling the number of branches by adding them also as collections of sub-branch links.
v) So users on slower internet connections and/or more limited capacity devices such as mobile phones can still work with it, we have removed some/all of the image content and made the map available as ‘lo-fi’ (all images removed), ‘mid-fi’ (all 1,227 local councillor images removed) and ‘hi-fi’ (no images removed) versions. All are available the view/download options panel.
Version – 1.2
Links to knowledge resources – 8,670
Map Branches – 2,484
File Sizes – [‘Hi-Fi’] HTML5 – 50.8 MB; MindManager (.mmap) – 36.5 MB | [‘Mid-Fi’] HTML5 – 23.2 MB; MindManager (.mmap) – 15.8 MB | [‘Lo-Fi’] HTML5 – 11.4 MB; MindManager (.mmap) – 7.0 MB
Basemap Framework –
- Scottish Local Council Electoral Wards – General & Geographic Knowledge Atlas (25 Jan 2020) (v1.1)
- Scottish Local Councils, Electoral Wards & Local Councillors – Political Knowledge Atlas (9 Oct 2019) (v1.0)
Actions – The main work done in making this version of the map was…
- Incorporation of knowledge resource links 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.
- Addition of links to knowledge resources about the several local by-elections that have taken place since the 1st version of this map was published on 30 Sep 2019.
- Adding branches for the newly elected councillors, with resigned / deceased councillor branches retained as sub-branches for reference.
- Deprecating image content to produce map versions with reduced overall file size.
Note(s)
i) Given the reasonably constant ‘churn’ of local councillors due to illness, death and party shenanigans, it’s our intention to update this map every 3 to 4 months. The precise timing though is dependant on the actual dates of the local by-elections, which tend to come in clumps.
ii) The addition of links to the WhoCanIVoteFor? website – the last local council election & subsequent by-elections in the ward as well as a candidates page for every local councillor – has added a further ~1,500 links and ~500 branches mare than the first edition of this map. Thus for this updated version we will hold to our policy of keeping links as attached to the seed branches only and not quadrupling the number of branches by adding them also as collections of sub-branch links.
iii) So users on slower internet connections and/or more limited capacity devices such as mobile phones can still work with it, we have removed some/all of the image content and made the map available as ‘lo-fi’ (all images removed), ‘mid-fi’ (all 1,227 local councillor images removed) and ‘hi-fi’ (no images removed) versions. All are available the view/download options panel.
Version – 1.1
Links to knowledge resources – 6,322
Map Branches – 1,922
File Sizes – [‘Hi-Fi’] HTML5 – 50.0 MB; MindManager (.mmap) – 36.0 MB | [‘Mid-Fi’] HTML5 – 22.7 MB; MindManager (.mmap) – 15.5 MB | [‘Lo-Fi’] HTML5 – 10.8 MB; MindManager (.mmap) – 6.6 MB
Basemap Framework – Scottish Local Council Electoral Wards – General & Geographic Knowledge Atlas (30 Sep 2019) (v1.0)
Actions – The main work done in making this version of the map was…
- Initial creation of knowledge seed branch framework of local councillors as additions to the Local Council Electoral Wards mainbranch framework.
- Seeking out and attaching multiple links to councillors official profile pages & entry in the register of members interests, as well as changes since they were last elected.
- Deprecating image content to produce maps versions with reduced overall file size.
Note(s)
i) Given the reasonably constant ‘churn’ of local councillors due to illness, death and party shenanigans, it’s our intention to update this map every 3 to 4 months. The precise timing though is dependant on the actual dates of the local by-elections, which tend to come in clumps.
ii) The large number of ‘seed branches’ – 1,227 councillors, 354 wards & 32 local councils – with their associated embedded images, greatly increases the file size of this map as it is. Thus for this first attempt we will not add the additional overhead of collections of sub-branch links to local councillors knowledge resources but instead keep them solely as attached multiple links.
iii) So users on slower internet connections and/or more limited capacity devices such as mobile phones can still work with it, we have removed some/all of the image content and made the map available as ‘lo-fi’ (all images removed), ‘mid-fi’ (all 1,227 local councillor images removed) and ‘hi-fi’ (no images removed) versions. All are available the view/download options panel.
Map Facts
Here are some of the ‘fun facts’ 😉 about Scotland’s 354 Local Council Electoral Wards and 1,227 Local Councillors that we have discovered (and embedded!) during the process of creating this map…
Density by Geography
Smallest & Largest
Hillhead Ward [Glasgow City Council]
North, West and Central Sutherland Ward [Highland Council]
Population (2018 Est)
Smallest & Largest
Lerwick North Ward [Shetland Islands Council]
Southside/Newington Ward [City of Edinburgh Council]
Density by Population
Smallest & Largest
An Taobh Siar agus Nis Ward [Comhairle nan Eilean Siar]
Southside/Newington Ward [City of Edinburgh Council]
Gender Balance
All Councillors, Worst & Best
All Councillors
(362 out of 1,227 Female Councillors)
Councillors - Female: 367 Male: 860
Least Balanced
(0 out of 31 Female Councillors)
Councillors - Female: 0 Male: 31
Comhairle nan Eilean Siar
Most Balanced
(30 out of 85 Female Councillors)
Councillors - Female: 30 Male: 55
Glasgow City Council
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 (2 Feb 2020) …
Big Map With 100's Of Branches & Links And Capacity For Plenty More
With 8,695 knowledge resource links over 2,509 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.
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.
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.
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.
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. 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.
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 ther 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 couls 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. Eeventually they will be moved to become a sub-branch of their successor once the by-election has taken place.
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.
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.
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).
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.
'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.
'Voter Help For Scottish Elections Branch' With Links To Useful Resources
The ‘Voter Help For Scottish Elections’ branch has links to useful links to help you registering to vote, find out which Local Council Electoral Ward, Scottish Parliament Constituency & Region or UK Parliament Constituency you live in, notice of any upcoming elections in your area and where to vote in them, and what the voting record for your incumbent MP’s or MSP’s.





