SCAD: Development of statistical information systems for the provision of census data

Korea, Seoul, November 2012

Presented by: Jasim Mohamed Lahdan AlqubaisiSurvey Planning, Design & Processing

Department Manager

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Overview

Abu Dhabi and SCAD

Abu Dhabi Census 2011

Abu Dhabi Census 2011 Output Planning

Census 2011 Thematic Maps

Census 2011 Community Tables

Census 2011 Table Builder

Scenarios

Demonstration

Scenarios and

Demo

The Tools

Abu Dhabi

Census 2011

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Abu Dhabi and SCAD

Abu Dhabi is the federal capital of the United Arab Emirates (UAE).

Last 40 years seen significant population growth and economic development.

Recognised need for official agency to provide statistics for decision making & policy.

In 2008, Statistics Centre – Abu Dhabi (SCAD) was established.

As a young statistical office, SCAD in fortunate position to review and implement best

practices from NSOs and other international statistical bodies.

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Abu Dhabi Census 2011

First official census conducted 1975.

Subsequent censuses 1980, 1985, 1995, 2001 and 2005.

In 2005 Census, output limited to hardcopy tables and PDF tables.

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Abu Dhabi Census 2011 Output Planning

Census 2011

First census conducted by SCAD (October 2011).

Census Outputs Aim

To make rich census data more widely available/accessible (on-line statistical tools).

Obligation

To ensure that the time and effort from enumerators and SCAD census team, and the

good will of the citizens, were repaid with quality outputs.

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Abu Dhabi Census 2011 Output Planning

Pre-requisites

1. Ease of use – tools do not require training or registration (intuitive).

2. Spatial representation – AD GIS integrated, expectation data presented in maps.

3. Take away data – first time data available electronically, easy to extract for analysis.

4. Sense of community – given growth, ability to know about local area important.

5. Confidentiality – privacy and protection of identification of individuals (Law #7).

6. Metadata – tools to link contextually to central metadata system.

7. Publishing standards – outputs consistent and meet SCAD standards.

8. Language accessibility – Arabic official language, most govt. services dual language.

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Abu Dhabi Census 2011 Output Planning

User requirements

External users – utilised CRM analysis where reviewed all client requests related to

households, population and buildings.

Government users – SLAs with key agencies which provide guidance on the type

and format of data required. Additionally, meetings on functionality.

Internal users – expatriate professionals from international NSOs. Additionally, local

Emirati staff with previous census experiences – critical that design meets local ideals.

International review – various census on-line tools were studied. AD Census tools

incorporate some of the best practices from these tools.

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Abu Dhabi Census 2011 Output Planning

Development

Timeframe - very compact compared with similar census tools (9 month devel). Proof

of concept using tools on other data sets (e.g. Foreign Trade Table Builder).

Development partner – SAS is SCAD’s selected vendor for data analysis/processing,

but also for dissemination. Census tools development was joint venture between

SCAD’s SIS Team and SAS.

Application architecture – multi-tier architecture. User interface developed with

J2EE based Java Server pages. The Census data resides in Oracle database as

back-end. SAS used as middleware - facilitates secure comms across front & back-

end layers.

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Abu Dhabi Census 2011 Output Planning

Confidentiality

With the tools providing increased data manipulation, comes increased potential/risk

of disclosure.

A working group reviewed existing international disclosure control methods (both pre

& post-tabular).

Adopted a seeded random rounding to base 5. The seed, or ‘key’, ensures same

result is repeatedly produce and caters for differencing when subsets are generated.

Minimum output geography

Threshold of =>500 persons and =>5 households.

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The Tools

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The Tools

Census 2011 Thematic Maps

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The Tools – Census 2011 Thematic Maps

The on-line thematic (choropleth) mapping tool allows user to quickly see census data

represented geographically.

Easily recognise spatial ‘clusters’ or ‘hot spots’.

While standard annotated maps show where something is in a place, thematic maps tell a

story about that place.

The tool includes standard mapping functions, such as: drag zoom, layer transparency,

pan, export, and colour palette.

Over 70 census variables, organised by theme, are available for selection.

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The Tools

Census 2011 Community Tables

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The Tools – Census 2011 Community Tables

Concept is to provide an instant statistical snapshot of a user-defined community.

Important aspect of the tool is to empower user to define their own ‘community of interest’

either from map or folder selection tools.

User can also select from 24 pre-defined census tables to form the basis of output report.

Report provided in PDF, Excel, or HTML formats.

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The Tools

Census 2011 Table Builder

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The Tools – Census 2011 Table Builder

Purpose to provide clients with the highest degree of freedom in selecting and combining

census data.

Users design their own census output tables by accessing variables and by modifying the

table structure to suit their own requirements.

Table builder also allows for easy export and offers some elementary data analysis.

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Scenarios and Demonstration

1. AD Health Authority implementing new aged

health care services – like to know where older

persons are located?

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Scenarios and Demonstration

2. Property developer interested in building a new

mall in Khalifa City - would like a social profile of

local area?

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Scenarios and Demonstration

3. AD Education Council would like to know

highest level of educational attainment by gender

by regions in Abu Dhabi?

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Conclusion

SCAD recognises its responsibility to expand and improve the quality, timeliness, and

accessibility of statistics produced in the Emirate of Abu Dhabi.

The suite of on-line census tools is evidence of SCAD’s commitment to this goal.

This project has set a positive benchmark for other future statistical outputs.

Thank You.

Korea, Seoul, November 2012

Contact Information: Mr.Jasim AlqubaisiSurvey Planning, Design & Processing Department ManagerP.O. Box: 6036, Abu Dhabi, U.A.E

Tel:+9712 8100222 Fax:+9712 8100800Office:+9712 8100522 Mobile:+9715 06666051Email: jmalqubaisi@scad.ae