Maps of Winnipeg show spread of income, ethnicity and languages

New maps of Winnipeg are allowing people to see the city is a new light – comparing income distribution, ethnicity and languages – and how they're spread across the city.

Ed Manley, a lecturer at University College London, was toying around with Winnipeg's census information last fall and the result is series of technicolor mosaics that tell the story of our city.

Each coloured dot on the map represents an individual person and the data available about them through Winnipeg's open data.

Manley used GIS software – or geographic information systems – to match the dots to the census data.

"You actually really get a good sense of the concentrations across the city," Manley told CBC's Information Radio. "You do get a sense of difference as you walk around Winnipeg for sure but it was interesting to see that come out on the screen."

"You do get a sense of communities forming in certain areas of Winnipeg," he added.

- Click here to view the language map full screen on your mobile device

Manley said there is lots of other data sets he could have used to make the maps but that these factors were interesting variables to look at, especially to look at them together and compare them and see where the correlations are.

The British lecturer was interested in Winnipeg because it is where his girlfriend calls home. When he was trying to come up with Christmas-present ideas, he decided to use his talents to give them something unique.

"Because I'm interested in map making and interested in creating new maps from new data sets," Manley said, "I though 'hey, why not use my skills to create some Christmas gifts?'"

Hear the full interview with Ed Manley on CBC Radio One's Information Radio, Tuesday at 6:45 a.m.