Introducing the IRISS Geosocial Data Integration Service: Integrating information on people, places, time, and space.
Pascal Perez1, Wojtek Tomaszewski2, German Eduardo Gonzalez Gonzalez1, Masoud Rahimi1, Denise Clague2, Matthias Kubler2, Jonathan Corcoran2, Tomasz Zając2 1Australian Urban Research Infrastructure Network (AURIN), Melbourne, Victoria, Australia2The University of Queensland, Brisbane, Queensland, Australia
Abstract
Many of Australia’s social issues such as social inequality, the social impacts of climate change and demographic transitions are complex. The extensive research to address these issues is currently hampered by the fragmented social research infrastructure. The tasks of accessing and sharing data and metadata across platforms, and determining its suitability for integration, are challenging and require a lot of time and a high level of expertise. For instance, tasks may require a reconciliation across different vocabularies, definitions, spatial boundaries, and other factors that vary over time and space.
These challenges call for a coordinated research infrastructure, that will provide a new foundation for integrating data, analysis, and platforms for social science research in Australia. The Integrated Research Infrastructure for Social Science (IRISS) project is working towards addressing these challenges. One of the core components of the IRISS project is GeoSocial, a data integration service that allows researchers to augment Australia’s largest longitudinal surveys with geospatial statistical data derived from the Australian Census of Population and Housing. Geosocial will empower Australia’s large cross-disciplinary social research community to identify patterns, make predictions, and inform social policy using rich integrated geosocial data.
The GeoSocial service is currently in the prototyping stage. To further improve the service, we will continue cross-collaboration with various stakeholders, including researchers and policymakers. The presentation at the eResearch conference is to introduce the project to the research community to facilitate cross-collaboration.
This presentation is intended to be delivered as a part of a session on the IRISS project.
Biography
German González is a Data Science Officer at the Australian Urban Research Infrastructure Network (AURIN). He holds a double degree in History and Economics and a master’s degree in economics. Extensive knowledge in geospatial analysis, econometrics, time series, research, and teaching. He has five years of experience in consultancy and participated in several projects supporting researchers in Australia. He has been collaborating with different universities in Australia in the integrated Research Infrastructure for Social Science (IRISS) project. Likewise, he was a research associate at the (UNSW Sydney) and a research assistant at the Centre of Studies of Economic Development (Colombia).