
The view from Manukau. Red is more deprived; blue is less deprived.
Since 1994, a group of New Zealand social scientists have attempted to quantify and map socio-economic inequalities. Their work has resulted in the production of four national datasets (based on analyses of the 1991, 1996, 2001 and 2006 censuses) and three atlases of deprivation.
Last night I downloaded the 2006 data from the good folks at Koordinates. The data arrives as a set of NZ census meshblock polygons. I wanted to visualise both deprivation and population. Representing absolute population figures for areas of varying size can result in deeply misleading maps, so I created an additional field to the dataset to represent the population density of each meshblock (i.e. number of people/area of the polygon).
To symbolise the data I stretched the meshblocks into three-dimensional prisms – the taller the prism the greater the population density. Then I symbolised the data according to deprivation. Red prisms are more deprived, blue prisms are less deprived.

Looking over Remuera, Glen Innes and the Tamaki Estuary to Howick
I have uploaded the Google Earth KMZ file to my drop.io account. Download it and play around with the visualization. I recommend turning 3D terrain off as I extruded the meshblock area units from sea-level (using the land as a base distorts the apparent population density heights).
Tiny expedition
On Wednesday night I took the evening train home from Wellington. As the Tararuas hurtled by, I started designing a game on my iPod Touch using a graphics app called TinyPixels [iTunes link]. When the train pulled into the station I had a concept screen for an exploration game controlled with a Lemmings mechanic. Now I want to play it. Perhaps I will have a go at coding it up while I am in transit today.
Some tiny dudes explore a cavern and try not to get into too much trouble.