Seminar on Spatial Statistics

1. Seminar on Spatial Statistics Session 2 Spatial analysis: a tool for exploiting the combination of geographicand statistical information and improving dissemination Conference of European Statisticians, Paris , 9 June 2010

2. Programme 14.30 - 14.45 Papers review Introduction to Session 2 Introducing the papers: - Contents- Discussion themes - Questions to authors 14.45 - 15.00 Replies by invited authors 15.00 - 15.50 General discussion 15.50 - 16.00 Summary Introduction to Session 2 (Spatial Analysis)

3. Session 2 will look at examples of spatial statistics applied to different thematic areas. The examples should provide an overview of the potential of spatial statistics as well as the associated data needs Session 2 will show the challenges associated with specific types of data or to the choice of the most promising types of analysis, as well as the costs and benefits related to the application of spatial analysis with respect to data collections Session 2 will also present best practice examples of dissemination of spatially referenced statistics, as well as examples where spatial analysis exploits possibilities which go beyond the pure illustration issue Four invited papers (Israel, Sweden, The Netherlands, Mexico) Introduction to Session 2 (Spatial Analysis)

4. Israel: Measuring compactness of locality in IsraelAuthor: Natalia Tsibel, Central Bureau of Statistics (Israel) Sweden: Role of a spatial dimension in official statisticsAuthor: Johnny Sehlin, Statistics Sweden The Netherlands: Cartography, Google and neighbourhood statisticsAuthors: Duncan Beeckman, Caroline van Houwelingen, Statistics Netherlands Mexico: The role of the spatial dimension in official statistics in MexicoAuthor: José Luis Olarte, INEGI Introduction to Session 2 (Spatial Analysis)

5. Papers review: contents, discussion themes, questions to authors

6. Contents (1/2) This study deals with measuring patterns of urban locality development on a continuum from compact to sprawled Compact x sprawl: compactness is intuitively understood as non-dispersion or concentration; sprawl is characterized by low density, remoteness from central facilities, spatial segregation of land uses, leapfrogging and strip development The project aims to characterize and rank the Israel localities (municipalities and local councils) according to the pattern of the urban area, as far as it is relevant to providing the municipal services to the local population The “Index of Compactness” is figured out for 197 municipalities and local councils in Israel, based on their development characteristics in 2006 Measuring compactness of locality in Israel

7. Contents (2/2) The Index of Compactness has been constructed as a combination of some spatial dimensions of urban development: configuration (size, shape and spread of the urban area), spatial measures (internal concentration, interaction and continuity) and population density measures The study focused on measuring patterns of physical entities, such as built-areas or open spaces A final decision was made of not including the population density into the integrated Index of Compactness but rather leave it as a separate indicator of an urban development pattern Measuring compactness of locality in Israel

8. Questions to authors What should be the best approach to communicate the results of this kind of study to policy makers and local authorities? How can the policy makers and the local authorities use the Index of Compactness ranking to provide better services to the local populations? How does the Ministry of the Interior of Israel use (assuming it does use) the results achieved in this work and what kind of public policies or government actions can benefit from using this Index of Compactness? Would it not be the case to advance further in this study by taking into account, in the calculation of the Index of Compactness, some variables relating to the social and/or economic development of the populations? How do you think the results would compare with the current investigation? Measuring compactness of locality in Israel

9. Contents (1/1) Joint project between the NCVA (National Center for Visual Analytics) and the Regional Services and Planning Unit at Statistics Sweden targeting visualization of small area statistics, specifically in small municipalities. The outcome of this joint project was the Municipality eXplorer application The “Municipality eXplorer” – is an extension of the web based NCVA eXplorer tool, that bundles the following functionalities for the visualization of statistics on maps:(a) The background map is Google Maps (b) Time animation just like that used by GapMinder(c) eXplorer wizard, an open source and free tool that enables municipalities to develop their own applications The 2nd application presented in this paper is the “Data from the Map”; this is a desktop spatial aggregation tool that returns statistics data on small areas within any freely defined area (based on statistical grids). Today, this application builds on MS MapPoint; VB programmability is included (300 Euro per license). The information database comes from Statistics Sweden and is also charged. Role of a spatial dimension in official statistics (Sweden)

10. Questions to authors The “Data from the Map” application is a good example of how statistics (spatial) grids can be used. Please could you explain how you deal with the need to meet data confidentiality requirements in this grid model? Please explain how the grid resolution for both urban (250m x 250m) and rural areas (1km x 1km) has been defined in the “Data from the Map” application. In order to ensure interoperability of data and applications in web solutions, some internationally accepted standards should, in the best case, be observed, like those of ISO and OGC. To which extent the eXplorer tool adheres to these standards? Role of a spatial dimension in official statistics (Sweden)

11. Contents (1/3) The paper focuses on the challenging problem of visualizing statistics at the neighbourdhood level, which led Statistics Netherlands to a learning journey (since 2006) that eventually came to a successful end. From 2003 on, the use of new registers for statistical data in the Netherlands led to a dramatic increase in the number of figures available at the neighbourhood level, which amounted to well over 100 Up to 2004 neighbourhood statistics had been calculated using two important geographical sources, the Geographical Base File (GBF) – national address file with 7 million records – and CBS/TOP boundaries, comprising the boundaries of all neighbourhoods in the Netherlands Then, two important geographic registers became accessible for statistical use beginning in 2004: the National Road File (NRF) and the Address Coordinates Netherlands (ACN); with these, the missing link of location could be added to the GBF and CBS/TOP sources With the use of NRF and ACN, progress occurred in data availability, quality and cost reduction; developing a new generation of tools for the dissemination of neighbourhood statistics became the new challenge. But, how should it look like ? The journey torwards finding a solution resulted in three initiatives Cartography, Google and neighbourhood statistics (Netherlands)

12. Cartography, Google and neighbourhood statistics (Netherlands) Contents (2/3) In 2007, Statistics Netherlands took the approach to use modern streaming photo-based mapping tools for the presentation of its neighbourhood statistics. There were only a few alternatives with respect to the technology to be used: MS Virtual Earth, Google Map and Google Earth, Open Streetmap and NASA World Wind. The choice was for Google services, not only for technical reasons but also due to the popularity of Google technologies in the Netherlands; this choice helped Statistics Netherlands to leverage an earlier project that had began in 2006: Statistics Netherlands in Your Neighbourhood, a website that today uses Google Maps to project statistical variables on a Google map In this process, after consulting with Google Netherlands, Statistical Netherlands learned that a statistical layer could be developed on Google Earth more easily and a lot quicker than the new website that had been under construction (3rd initiative); the latter approach resulted in the so-called Neighbourhood Statistics in Google Earth; both services have become portals for StatLine, where the complete dataset on neighbourhoods is published Google Maps contains satellite and aerial images. Google Earth, which does not run on an Internet browser but is rather a downloadable application, takes it one step further offering a range of interactive possibilities

13. Cartography, Google and neighbourhood statistics (Netherlands) Contents (3/3) In the proposed solution, thematic maps are superimposed upon aerial photos by using transparency (dependent on the zoom level); an example of a theme that can be represented in this way is the population density in neighbourhoods Driven by INSPIRE, Statistics Netherlands also uses some agreed standards for publication of its geo information. In the near future even more advanced technology such as WMS and WFS will be used and available for other portals Promising areas of evolution: the use of heat maps, the addition of animated statistics to the Google Earth layer (for the visualization of statistical trends) and last but not least … … The use of register information: the combination of GIS and administrative sources offers a new range of options that can be fully exploited using the modern visualization techniques presented in the paper

14. Cartography, Google and neighbourhood statistics (Netherlands) • Questions to authors • Who was in charge of building and currently of maintaining the NRF and ACN registers? How are these registers updated? • Would you please detail the problems faced by the government along the OnzeGeo initiative? • How does the Statistics Netherlands expect to cope with the INSPIRE initiative? What benefits will outcome from this decision on behalf of Statistics Netherlands? • Are the neighbourhood polygons the least geospatial unit used by Statistics Netherlands to disseminate statistics? • Are there any plans to provide statistics for a smaller spatial unit such as block / face or a regular grid polygon? • If so, are there any ideas on how to deal with data secrecy issues?

15. Contents (1/3) General overview of the development and use of both Geographic Information Systems (GIS) and geomatic solutions. These are presented as a product of instrumentation of processes of integration, systematizing and application of geospatial information The emerging science of geomatics has encouraged the development of disciplines such as spatial statistics, also known as geostatistics, aimed at setting trends of statistical observations from the space-time reference, in addition to the trends established by traditional numerical analysis GIS plays a major role in building the solution through the application of its statistical and spatial analysis tools, as well as in the presentation of results The role of the spatial dimension in official statistics in Mexico

16. Contents (2/3) Case study: geomatics solution developed by INEGI for the Ministry of Energy. This ministry designed schemes for providing electricity to poor rural communities through the utilization of solar energy. INEGI´s solution enabled the secretariat in identifying localities in Mexico that fulfill the following conditions:(a) Located in municipalities of high and very high deprivation (source data came from the National Population Council)(b) Include 40% or more speakers of indigenous language(c) Have a population equal or greater than 100 inhabitants; and(d) Have electricity in less than 10% of households- For itens (b), (c), (d), the source data was extracted from the II Count of Population and Housing, 2005 The role of the spatial dimension in official statistics in Mexico

17. Contents (3/3) Case study: geomatics solution developed by INEGI for the Ministry of Energy (cont.) As a result of spatial and statistical analysis, it was found that from almost 200,000 localities in the country, only 763 met the four conditions simultaneously In addition to the initial requirement, it was sought to identify those communities that were in a radius of 10 kilometers from those already identified, so that energy could be redistributed from those 763 communities to others also in need As a result, they obtained 15,910 communities that could benefit with the project undertaken by the Ministry of Energy The role of the spatial dimension in official statistics in Mexico

18. Questions to authors Are there other examples of geomatics solutions demanded by decision-makers in Mexico? Does INEGI usually develop Ad Hoc geomatics solutions to address government demands? What is the current focus of INEGI: to develop Ad Hoc solutions like in the case study presented or to deliver general purpose products that can be used for any type of user? The role of the spatial dimension in official statistics in Mexico

19. Discussion Themes

20. Measuring compactness of locality in Israel Discussion themes Spatial data visualization tools can be helpful in communicating the results of this kind of study. Yet, there is a concern on how these results can be effectively used by policy makers and local authorities In the calculation of the Index of Compactness this study has not taken into account any variable related to social and/or economic development of the local populations. For instance, in Latin America many communities presenting high degree of compactness are underdeveloped and represent a challenge for authorities in providing public services

21. Discussion themes “Municipality eXplorer” “municipalities should have their own application, running on the municipality homepage and in local webservers”; but, should the NSO define the platform and tools to be used by the municipalities? In order to ensure interoperability of data and applications in web solutions, some internationally accepted standards should, in the best case, be observed, like those of ISO and OGC. To what extent should the NSO’s adhere to these standards in the solutions they design and propose for data dissemination? Role of a spatial dimension in official statistics (Sweden)

22. Discussion themes “The Statistics Netherlands solution based on Google services presents a clear drawback: the dependency on Google”. The Google’s hegemony brings advantages and disadvantages, and the NSOs got to learn how to handle this kind of dilema The importance of a legal framework to enable the use of 3rd parties’ registers by NSOs, for it can leverage the production of statistics while lowering the cost of data collection; this framework is a reality in the Netherlands but it is not in other countries yet The issue of individual information confidentiality in face of the availability and dissemination of more disaggregated data Cartography, Google and neighbourhood statistics (Netherlands)

23. The role of the spatial dimension in official statistics in Mexico Discussion themes The quality of a geomatics solution is not so much in the GIS software platform adopted, but rather in the geospatial data sets utilized, as well as in the way (methods and processes) these data sets are processed for a given purpose The case study is a classic example of a geomatics solution based on spatial analysis, with the purpose of “site selection”. The GIS spatial analysis tool has been successfully used to create a new type of information from the original source data. But, can this example be labeled as a “Spatial Statistics” application?

24. Summary

25. Session 2 wrap-up Spatial analysis is a promising set of tools and methods for getting added-value from the combination of geographic and statistical information, as well as enhancing the dissemination of statistical data. It can be specially useful in the dissemination of small area statistics, where the need exists to handle more disaggregated statistical data down to the “neighbourhood” level or even smaller. Spatial analysis should, in the best case, provide information to meet real world demands; in other words, information that can be effectively used by policy-makers and decision-makers, and it should be clear to these people how the information could be used in people’s benefit. The use of spatial grids seems to be a promising approach for the dissemination of small area statistics; yet, there is room for further investigation on how to protect the confidentiality of individual data in this technique.

26. Session 2 wrap-up It is common sense that the NSO’s worldwide should somehow cope with the emerging Spatial Data Infrastructure initiatives out there at the regional, national and local levels; yet, the guidelines and procedures to be followed by a NSO in this regard do require further investigation. The development of open source and free code based solutions vis-a-vis proprietary and commercial based solutions, for spatial analysis and statistical data dissemination, is another topic that deserves further analysis. The use of register information: the combination of GIS and administrative sources offers a new range of options that can be fully exploited using the modern visualization techniques currently available

27. Thank you !