Uncertainty in Spatial Data: Identification, Visualization and Utilization

项目摘要 该提案是对PA-11-238，空间不确定性：数据，建模和 通信（R 01）。我们的研究重点是记录，可视化和利用数据 空间分析中的误差和不确定性信息。当要素经历空间 在这一过程中出现的腐败没有记录在案。数据使用者 不知道给定数据集的误差大小和不确定性。健康 地理编码的单个受访者的结果通常需要汇总，无论是地理上的 或分类，以便在发布指数时保护隐私，比如说，导出的癌症率。 正确解释健康结果的邻里水平的特点需要知识 以及利用地域单位内的个人地理分布， 这些地理分布之间的地域关联。另一方面，由于数据质量 信息变得越来越容易获得，现有的绘图工具未能充分包括 数据质量信息。此外，数据使用者经常忽略数据误差和不确定性信息， 将空间数据和相关地图视为无错误和无不确定性。因此，分析， 作为地理聚类检测，在不考虑数据质量的情况下执行。 本提案针对这些特定的数据质量问题，具体目标如下：1） 制定指标以量化汇总误差的影响。我们将讨论两个方面： 地理编码个体在区域单位内的分布，以及属性误差对 空间聚合2)开发方法和工具，以可视化属性错误， 采样和空间聚合。我们将增强我们当前的数据质量可视化 工具，修改现有的可视化框架，并引入工具来支持新的 图例设计和地图分类方法。3)引入空间统计方法， 将误差和不确定性信息纳入全球和局部空间分析， 模式检测我们将评估现有方法的可靠性，并提出新的 说明抽样、规格和测量误差的方法。我们将合并 通过实现我们的目标1开发的聚合误差措施。忽略空间中的错误 数据不利于制定有效的政策和作出正确的决定。 我们建议的工作将加强未来的数据收集和处理工作，使用户能够 考虑不同类型的错误信息，提高空间模式检测的可靠性， 整合数据质量信息，并将不确定性信息转化为地图， 向用户传达数据质量信息。结果具有普遍适用性。

Project Summary This proposal is a response to PA-11-238, Spatial Uncertainty: Data, Modeling and Communication (R01). Our research focuses on documenting, visualizing and utilizing data error and uncertainty information in spatial analysis. When features undergo spatial aggregation, corruptions introduced through the process are not documented. Data users are not aware of the magnitude of error in and uncertainty accompanying a given dataset. Health outcomes of geocoded individual respondents often require aggregation, either geographically or categorically, in order to preserve privacy when publishing indices, say, derived cancer rates. Properly explaining health outcomes by neighborhood-level characteristics requires knowledge as well as a utilization of the geographic distribution of individuals within areal units coupled with areal associations among these geographic distributions. On the other hand, as data quality information is becoming more readily available, existing mapping tools fail to sufficiently include data quality information. Also, data users often ignore data error and uncertainty information, treating spatial data and associated maps as error- and uncertainty-free. Thus, analyses, such as geographic cluster detection, are performed without considering the quality of data. This proposal addresses these particular data quality issues with the following specific aims: 1) formulate indices to quantify impacts of aggregation error. We would address two aspects: distributions of geocoded individuals within areal units, and impacts of attribute errors through spatial aggregation. 2) develop methods and tools to visualize attribute errors arising from sampling and spatial aggregation. We would enhance our current data quality visualization tools for a GIS, modify existing visualization frameworks, and introduce tools to support new legend designs and map classification methods. 3) introduce spatial statistical methods to incorporate error and uncertainty information into the analyses of global and local spatial pattern detection. We would evaluate the reliability of existing methods, and propose new methods to account for sampling, specification, and measurement error. We would incorporate the aggregation error measures developed through achieving our Aim 1. Ignoring error in spatial data is detrimental to the formulation of effective policies and the making of sound decisions. Our proposed work would enhance future data gathering and processing effort, enable users to consider different types of error information, improve the reliability of spatial pattern detection by incorporating data quality information, and translate uncertainty information into maps and communicate data quality information to users. Results have very general applicability.