Geo-coding addresses in historic British census data

An open methodology

Bibliographic Data

ID11253264
AuthorsJoshua Rhodes (0000-0002-4017-2777, History, Durham University, UK, corresponding author)
Year2025
Volume58
Issue1
Pages31-53
Publication date2025-01-02
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueHistorical Methods A Journal of Quantitative and Interdisciplinary History (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0161-5440 • E-ISSN: 1940-1906
PublisherInforma UK Limited (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1080/01615440.2024.2431491
OpenAlexW4406628913
LanguageEN
Citations received3
References cited35

This article introduces CensusGeocoder, an open-source python package for automated address geo-coding, and AddressGB, an openly available dataset of c. 121 million individuals with geo-coded addresses from I-CeM (digitized historic British census data for 1851 to 1911). AddressGB enables address and street-level GIS analysis of I-CeM data, a much higher spatial resolution than existing approaches that aggregate individuals to parishes or census registration sub-districts. This also opens new opportunities for linking historic census data to other spatial datasets. The article details the methodology underpinning CensusGeocoder and showcases the scale, accuracy, representativeness, and future applications of AddressGB

Archaeology · Census · Coding (social sciences · Data science · Geography · Population · Sociology · Statistics · Computer Science · Data-Driven Disease Surveillance · Demography · Geographic Information Systems Studies · Human Mobility and Location-Based Analysis · Mathematics

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