Conceptualizing a Spatial Data Infrastructure for the Social Sciences: An Example from Germany

Challenges and Opportunities for Spatial Data Infrastructure Development in Mozambique

“…However, inconsistencies and incompatibilities among spatial datasets impede their integration and re-use hindering the effective and efficient use of spatial data (Mwange et al 2018). Kong (2015) while exploring the best management practices of geospatial data in academic libraries has reviewed the common challenges of spatial data management and curation, which includes the application of big data, the emergence of web GIS, and the advancement of cyberinfrastructures, and conceptual framework (Schweers et al 2016).…”

“…Recently SDI emerged for social sciences (Schweers et al 2016). However, environmental protection and natural resources management have been presented as one of the main reasons for implementing national and global SDI (Guigoz 2015;Foster and Ryttersgaard 2001).…”

Documenting Georeferenced Social Science Survey Data: Limits of Metadata Standards and Possible Solutions

“…As an example, a lawyer with seven children for whom we know in which city she lives is easier to identify than a lawyer for whom we know in which country she lives. Therefore, data privacy concerns (Armstrong and Ruggles 2005) generally preclude the sharing of small-scale geographic information with other researchers and the public (Schweers et al 2016), even if this information is available to the primary researchers.…”

“…Storing survey information in combination with personal information, such as address-based geo-coordinates, on one single dataset is not allowed according to German data protection legislation (Müller 2019). For this purpose, these data are linked in multiple steps: first, the geo-coordinates are used to extract attributes from geospatial data; second, this information is added to the actual survey data by changing identifiers between the survey data and geo-coordinates and deleting the geo-coordinates (Schweers et al 2016). This procedure is not the subject of this articlewhat remains important, however, is that even without direct spatial references, such as geocoordinates, the linked data contain information stemming from geographic structures that must be described with appropriate metadata.…”

“…By using small-scale georeferenced survey data, researchers can answer questions about individual social behavior or attitudes (Förster 2018;Termorshuizen, Braam, and van Ameijden 2015) while also taking into account the geospatial patterns of social processes (Klinger, Müller, and Schaeffer 2017;Legewie and Schaeffer 2016;Tolsma and van der Meer 2017). Consequently, in recent years, there has been an increasing demand to analyze (Hillmert, Hartung, and Weßling 2017;Meyer and Enzler 2013), access, and combine georeferenced survey data with other geospatial data (Bluemke et al 2017;Jünger 2019;Schweers et al 2016).…”