Measuring Data Quality from Building Registers: A Case Study in Italy

Gianluigi Salvucci, Donato Scarpitta, Marco Maialetti, Kostas Rontos, Stefano Bigiotti, Adele Sateriano () and Alessandro Muolo
Additional contact information
Gianluigi Salvucci: Italian National Institute of Statistics (ISTAT), Via Cesare Balbo 16, I-00184 Rome, Italy
Donato Scarpitta: Independent Researcher, Santa Marina, I-84067 Salerno, Italy
Marco Maialetti: Independent Researcher, I-00195 Rome, Italy
Kostas Rontos: Department of Sociology, University of the Aegean, University Hill, EL-81100 Mitilini, Greece
Stefano Bigiotti: Department of Agricultural and Forest Sciences (DAFNE), Tuscia University, Via S. Camillo de Lellis, I-01100 Viterbo, Italy
Adele Sateriano: Mediterranean Sustainable Development Foundation (MEDES), Sicignano degli Alburni, I-84029 Salerno, Italy
Alessandro Muolo: Department of Methods and Models for Economics, Territory and Finance (MEMOTEF), Sapienza University of Rome, Via del Castro Laurenziano 9, I-00161 Rome, Italy

Geographies, 2024, vol. 4, issue 3, 1-16

Abstract: Geographic data quality is a complex issue requiring continuous operational improvements. Considering this to be one of the most topical research and technical issues in official statistics and environmental monitoring, this study re-connects the operational dimension of ‘geographic data quality’ with the broader issue of monitoring the quality of official statistics. By estimating the accuracy of public (spatially explicit) data, this study illustrates an operational framework with an exploratory exercise in estimating the geographic data quality characteristic of a specific information source within the official statistical system (i.e., building registry) in a given European country, namely, Italy. The results of this exercise provide a paradigmatic example of profound innovation in the activities of statistical services in Europe and specifically the Italian National Statistical Institute (Istat), transitioning from independent (and poorly connected) field surveys to an integrated system of registries. Since several studies are based on spatially explicit survey units, it is essential to estimate the quality of geographical data, especially those derived from information sources where space is topical information, such as (local, regional, or national) building registers. Thanks to the results of an empirical exercise applied to Italian building registers, the present article will discuss the issue of data accuracy, considered the main issue related to monitoring geographic data quality, from an official statistics’ perspective. Statistical indicators will be proposed for the assessment of systematic and random errors of spatially explicit measures, possibly enabling a quali-quantitative improvement in the semantic content of building registers that address the inherent requirements of official statistics. Such indicators have some positive implications for the entire system of official statistics in Italy and, for generalization, within the European Statistical System.

Keywords: official statistics; census; sampling survey; public database; precision (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: Q1 Q15 Q5 Q53 Q54 Q56 Q57 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2024
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.mdpi.com/2673-7086/4/3/32/pdf (application/pdf)
https://www.mdpi.com/2673-7086/4/3/32/ (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:gam:jgeogr:v:4:y:2024:i:3:p:32-611:d:1474303

Access Statistics for this article

Geographies is currently edited by Ms. Fannie Xu

More articles in Geographies from MDPI
Bibliographic data for series maintained by MDPI Indexing Manager ().