Several of our discussion on the site about local regeneration and house building have often turned to the issue of school places and provision of Education. We know that there is significant pressure on school places locally but this is also an issue of concern across London.

In October 2012 Mayor of London Boris Johnson published the Mayor's Education Inquiry recommending better pupil place projections covering the whole of London because detailed borough level projections are not always compatible when taken together.

In addition, the Mayor's Vision 2020 document set out the Mayor's ambitions for London and identified a need for 4,000 extra primary classes by 2020. For the right number of school places to be planned for in the right places, it is essential to map projections for each locality against existing school provision. This interactive map (or in fact two maps - for primary and secondary) shows in detail the current data and identifies from which areas a particular school is drawing its intake. It can also be configured to show which schools students from a particular area attend.

One of the very interesting aspects of the map is projecting future trends to identify which areas are expecting the greatest increase in student numbers between now and 2017. The data shows a significant need for new school provision in the south west of Enfield - Bowes Ward - is anticipating an increase of over 30% whilst Bounds Green Ward in Harringey shows by comparison lower increase in projected demand.

The map is a very good example of data visualisation - and provides an enormously rich set of information to inform any local debate about the place of school provision in regeneration, housing and wider public service delivery. It's very transparent and the full set of figures behind it are available to download.

The full map and background data can be accessed at the Greater London Authority website

The video below explains how to use the map