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

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.