As reported by the Newspaper Society: The maps have been the source of revelations including the fact that Durham is a surprise hotbed of English footballing talent and Derby County has accrued the highest average number of red or yellow cards issued to players per game for fixtures played in the history of the Premier League.
Since being established in April this year, Trinity Mirror’s data unit based in Manchester has created resources from a variety of data sources including Government departments, the Office for National Statistics and their own unique survey and polls.
Each day, around half a dozen internal bulletins are sent by the unit to Trinity Mirror’s regional and national journalists, analysing data, detailing potential news lines or stories and providing maps and interactive charts for the company's websites.
Earlier this year, the unit produced the Real Schools Guide – an interactive map rating thousands of state schools on their results, teaching, behaviour and the prospects for their pupils, which was used by titles across the Trinity Mirror group.
David Ottewell, head of data journalism, Trinity Mirror (Regionals), said: “It’s not just about finding news stories, it’s about creating content that tells people something about their community and creating resources that our journalists can use and come back to.”
Football data has been used for a map detailing the birthplace of every England footballer which The Chronicle used for a story revealing that Durham is a surprise hotbed for footballing talent.
Another map which ran on The People’s website allows users to take a virtual tour of the globe to find England’s record against every international football side.
Other stories based on the unit’s work include a piece in the Manchester Evening News on the teams to have accrued the highest average number of red or yellow cards during games played in the Premier League.
