UK Games Map: How to use the new and improved map of our industry

The UK Games Map, an interactive tool showing the locations of companies and academic institutions related to our sector, relaunched with a new, updated version this week.

First released in 2016 with the support of Nesta is collaboration between Ukie, research agency The Nursery and developer Kieran Darcy, with academic data from Discover Uni and supported by the BFI through National Lottery funding.

But how exactly do you make the most of this fantastic library of UK games companies, service providers and academic institutions? This guide helps to clear up just that.

In addition to the map’s normal view, you can also view it as a heatmap and as a choropleth. The toggles for these view modes are available in the bottom left corner of the map. 

The heatmap shows the density of companies through the intensity of colour shown on the map. It responds to all levels of filtering on the map. 

The choropleth shows the total number of companies using both colour and the height of region-shaped polygons. It is available only when a “Boundary Group” has been selected and cannot be limited to individual boundaries but does respond to all other filters. Choropleths are more easily seen when the map is viewed from a perspective other than top-down. To change the camera angle of the map view, right-click and drag.

You can explore different aspects of the UK industry by applying different filters to the map. It’s even possible to look at how the industry looked at different periods of time! After you’ve applied the filters you’re interested in, you can view all of the companies that satisfy these filters as a list by clicking “list view” in the top left corner of the map. Furthermore, you can export this list as a CSV by clicking the “Export n organisations” button at the top of the list. Exporting as CSV requires the creation of a UK Games Map user account.

When browsing an organisation page on the map, you can suggest edits to the page, if for example any of the information (such as the company address) is incomplete or out-of-date. To do this, simply click the “suggest an edit” button in the left-hand toolbar. You can also use this function to let us know if a particular organisation should not be on the map. 

You can add new organisations to the map using the “add a new organisation” button. This can always be found at the bottom of the lefthand toolbar and at the bottom of any filtered list. You’ll be taken to the add an organisation page and prompted to search by company number or name. 

• If the organisation is present in our extended database, you can click through to its company page and then click on “Add this organisation” under the company name or in the lefthand toolbar. You’ll be prompted to give us a brief bit of information on why the organisation should be added, at which point you can send us the suggestion by hitting “submit”. 
• If the organisation is missing from our extended database, you’ll need to search by company number. This will bring up the correct listing from Companies House, at which point you can click the “Add this organisation to the map” button to suggest its inclusion. 

If you are the owner of a business on the map or manage that business’s public profile, you can apply to edit and maintain the page directly. You can add richer information like company headcount, a logo or a company description. To claim an organisation, you need to navigate to that organisation’s page on the UK Games Map and click “Claim this organisation” in the lefthand toolbar. You’ll then need to provide us with some information to help us verify your connection to the organisation. You’re guided through this in a dialogue within the toolbar. Steps you’ll need to take: 

• Add an email address with the same domain as the organisation’s website and verify this email address on your profile page. 
• Tell us about your connection to the organisation.
• Provide us with a link to the organisation’s website and any other links that demonstrate your connection, such as LinkedIn pages.
• Declare that you have this organisation’s permission to edit their data on the UK Games Map.

After this process is complete, you can click “OK” to submit your claim. You’ll receive an email letting you know the outcome within 2-3 business days. 

Once you have been approved as a verified editor, you’ll now see an “Edit page” button in the top right corner of the organisation page. Clicking this will bring you into a view where you can edit each element of the page individually. 

Updating your organisation’s position on the map 

After being verified as an editor, enter Edit Mode on your organisation’s page and follow these steps. 

• Click “Add a new address” at the bottom of the page and start typing your address. Select the correct address from the list provided and click the “Add this address” button. 
• Click the edit symbol next to the newly added address. 
• Click the map symbol to the left of the address. 
• Click “Save”

Discover the new and improved UK Games Map now.