Question:
I have a researcher looking for the 2001, 2006, and 2011 census and corresponding PCCFs. I’ve gotten all the census data, but I’m having a heck of time figuring out which of the PCCFs I need to use (for example, in the PCCF+ folder for 2001, there is PCCF4F, PCCF4G, PCCF4H, and pccf4j). I have no idea what I’m looking at. Can anyone point me in the right direction?
Answer:
I believe the deal is that the highest alphanumeric version in any given census folder is the last version for that census. So, the 7s are for 2016, the 6s are for 2011, the 5s are for 2006, etc. and the lettering just restarts to indicate which versions have been released.
I think The odd case on the EFT might be 6D, which is still in the 2017 folder, but was created in 2015 and based on the 2011 census geo, but includes 2016 DAs. That's a weird one. The first official 2016 version seems to be 7A, or at least 7A's documentation says "The reference date for these geographic areas is January 1, 2016. The previous version linked to the 2011 Census of Population geographic areas."
I think the deal with the PCCF+ over the PCCF is that you can use the PCCF+ for data spanning multiple census, but I don't think you have to grab separate versions. Someone who actually knows what they're talking about can confirm or deny, but in your case, Maggie, I think you only need to grab the latest version for 2011, which would be 6C or 6D, depending on whether or not it matters that the documentation for 6D says "Although version 6D of the PCCF+ is still based on 2011 census geography, the output includes the 2016 dissemination area (DA) based on a released intercensal correspondence file (DA16uid)."
