Assessing the accuracy of kernel smoothing population surface models for Northern Ireland using geographically weighted regression

This paper makes use of two sets of Census outputs for Northern Ireland – counts by (i) output areas (OAs) and (ii) 100 m grid cells. Population surfaces are derived from OAs using a kernel smoothing approach and the accuracy of these surfaces is assessed using the 100-m grid square product. The key contribution of this paper is in pulling together the benefits of a gridded population data source with local regression procedures to provide a more detailed assessment of surface modelling accuracy than possible in any previous studies.