Establishment of the Census Geography in Taiwan

Tsai, Bor-Wen1, Chen, Chin-Hong2, Shen, Jeremy3

1

Associate Professor, Department of Geography, National Taiwan University, tsaibw@ntu.edu.tw

Director, Department of Statistics, Ministry of the Interior, moi0963@moi.gov.tw

3

Director, Information Center, Ministry of the Interior, moi0795@moi.gov.tw

Abstract Census data is able to derive valuable information for government policy-making. However, there was no dedicated system for census data in Taiwan. Data on individual units (individual person/household) was aggregated by jurisdictional units either in text form of digital format or in tabular form of report. Critical issues are data aggregated by jurisdictional units is usually too large to provide detail information on local area of interest and is difficult to illustrate spatial distribution and variation. This paper reports an establishment of census geography in Taiwan. It becomes a part of national spatial data infrastructure of Taiwans National Geographic Information System (NGIS). Census geography is a mechanism for census data to be associated with spatial location explicitly. It implies the spatial allocation and spatial aggregation of census data. A geo-referencing system for spatial allocation and a hierarchical architecture of census geographic areas are evaluated and designed. This architecture is able to provide spatial-explicit and detail information for census data and is able to conform to the existing jurisdictional system as well. The designed architecture comprises a statistical area and levels of dissemination areas for data provision in terms of different level of detail. In addition to census data, custom dissemination areas based on the identical statistical area are

allowed to serve social-economic data provision such as crime or health data. The statistical area is the basic unit for data aggregation. The major concerns are protection of privacy and size of the unit in terms of spatial and attribute consideration. The dissemination areas are units for data distribution. There are four levels of detail for different applications. The evaluation of existing NGIS database is also conducted to make best use of existing data for the implementation of census geography. Key words: Census Geography, Statistical Area, Dissemination Area 1. INTRODUCTION Demographic data is critical information for government policy making. There are two demographic data sources compiled and disseminated by government agencies in Taiwan. One is the Population and Housing Census which is held by the Directorate-General of Budget, Accounting and Statistics, Executive Yuan every ten years. Another is the Census Register System which is a regular household register system by the Department of Household Registration. Both data on individual unit (household) was aggregated by jurisdictional areas either in text form of digital format or in tabular form of report. It is therefore difficult to illustrate spatial distribution or variation of social economic status. The jurisdictional boundaries are subjected to change when the population of jurisdiction increases or decreases to a certain level. There were 585 village (the smallest jurisdictional unit in Taiwan) boundaries be modified between 1998-2007. Users of census data who wish to compare statistics between different geographical areas, or for a particular area between different points in time, need to be able to identify and understand the area to which the data refers. Another problem encountered is that data aggregated by jurisdictional units is usually too large to provide detail information on local area of interest. The average population size of villages is about 3000. It is difficult to grasp detailed information for such large aggregation unit. The census data become less useful in

large-scale planning or decision-making tasks. Comparing to most modern countries in the world, there are many dedicated census system such as the US TIGER system (Topologically 1984). the Integrated SGC Geographic Encoding and Referencing)(Broome, system (Standard Geographical

Classification) of Canada (Canada's National Statistical Agency, 2007a, 2007b, 2007c, 2007d, 2007e, 2007f)the ASGC (The Australian Standard Geographical Classification) of Australia (Edwards, 2001, Puall, 2003), the of Japan (http://nlftp.mlit.go.jp/isj/index.html) and so on. A census geography was established to serve as a dedicated and spatial-explicit census system. It has become a part of national spatial data infrastructure of Taiwans National Geographic Information System (NGIS). 2. CENSUS GEOGRAPHY Census geography is a mechanism for census data to be associated with spatial location explicitly. It implies the spatial allocation and spatial aggregation of census data. The NGIS has established a GIS database for building addresses. The address geocoding is utilized to allocate each individual data to its associated spatial unit. Once the individual data has been geo-referenced, spatial aggregation can be done by the desired areas from the finest boundary to the most generalized boundary. Information can be derived in different detailed levels as needed. A hierarchical aggregation system is employed. The designed architecture comprises a statistical area and six levels of dissemination areas for data provision in terms of different level of detail (Figure 1). In order to conform to the existing jurisdictional system, the third level dissemination areas are consistent with the existing township boundaries and the fourth level is consistent with the county boundary. In addition to census data, custom dissemination areas based on the identical statistical area are allowed to serve social-economic data provision such as crime or health data. The custom dissemination areas can be conformed to the existing system at whatever appropriate level (Tsai, et al. 2008).

Figure 1 Architecture of the Designed Census Geography System

6th level dissemination area (nation)

5th level dissemination area (regional planning)

4th level dissemination area (county)

3rd level dissemination area (township) custom dissemination area -- handicap data -- business data -- health data -- crime data --

2nd level dissemination area

1st level dissemination area

statistical area

The statistical areas are basic units for data aggregation. The major concerns are protection of privacy and size of the unit in terms of spatial and attribute consideration. The dissemination areas are units for data distribution. In addition to privacy consideration, provision of different levels of detail for different users is the major concern.

3. ESTABLISHMENT OF THE CENSUS GEOGRAPHYU SYSTEM A preliminary study was conducted by a research team of National Taiwan University to set up the criteria and rules for building the census geography system. The considerations of boundaries for statistical and dissemination areas are as follows. Boundaries of any unit must be visible and stable in the field as possible

Consequently, the road network and drainage network are the best candidates for boundaries. Ridge lines are supplementary boundaries in rural or mountain areas. Homogeneous distribution in each unit Distribution of data in each unit should be homogeneous as possible. Household register data is employed to examine homogeneity of population and household. The household register data is maintained and updated by the Ministry of Interior nationwide routinely. This data contains individual household information with address embedded. GIS address matching method was employed to locate every household (Figure 2). The homogeneity of each proposed unit can be examined visually or by GIS point pattern analysis.
Figure 2 Distribution of Households

Consideration of privacy invasion

Privacy is the major concern for the system. After careful examination of the distribution of population in Taiwan, we set the lower and upper limits of population size for the statistical, 1st and 2nd dissemination areas respectively. The upper limit for the statistical areas is 450 persons. The lower limit for the 1st dissemination is 100 persons or 40 households to protect privacy and 1000 persons for the upper limit. The upper limit for the 2nd dissemination areas is 3000 persons. Utilization of available data as possible Must efforts including time and budget are needed to build the census geography system from scratch. Fortunately, many GIS databases have been established by the promotion of the Taiwan NSDI (NGIS) for the past 20 years. There are different sources for road network. The Ministry of Transportation and Communication has built a GIS database for road network with road width greater than 6 meters. However, there are many streets with road width less than 6 meters in urban areas. Those streets can be extracted from 1/1000 digital topographic maps that are available for most urbanized areas in Taiwan. GIS drainage and watershed databases are constructed by the Water Resource Agency. Ridge lines can be derived from 40 or 5 meter DEM constructed by the Ministry of Interior. Shape of units should be compact as possible Narrow and long shape units are not preferred. This requirement can be confirmed by GIS shape analysis. The designed system should conform to the existing system The existing system uses jurisdictional boundaries for data aggregation. The designed system adopts jurisdictional boundaries as high level dissemination areas and add three levels of aggregation units (the statistical area, 1st and 2nd dissemination areas) to increase detail of data. Ensure boundary stability The designed system replaces the village boundaries with three levels of aggregation units. The reason of discarding the village boundaries is its frequent

boundaries revision. It is difficult to do time series analysis if the boundaries of aggregation units are changed frequently. Table 1 shows the village boundary revision from 1995 to 2008. Figure 3 shows change of village boundaries between 1990 and 2004 of Zhuangwei Township in Yilan County. It is obvious that the village boundaries are subject to change frequently.
Table 1 Summary of Village Boundaries Revision

Year 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008

Name Changed New Villages 34 21 13 0 9 6 0 0 3 0 1 2 0 3 0 0 189 4 1 4 15 191 0 39 5 61 0 0

Disappear Villages (merged or name changed) 0 0 3 0 0 0 0 157 0 40 2 43 2 0

Figure 3 Village Boundaries of Zhuangwei Township in 1990 and 2004

4. RESULT 16 out of 22 counties have completed the establishment of the census geography system. It took three years and cost US$ 1.25 million approximately. It is expected to complete the whole work by the end of 2002. Figure 4 shows the census geography system of Kaohsiung City. There are 6884 statistical areas, 4446 1st level dissemination areas, 698 2nd level dissemination areas and 11 3rd level disseminations (the existing townships jurisdictional areas). A case study was done by the NTU research team to demonstrate the rationality and suitability of the census geography system. The project analyzed the Dengue Fever cases that were held in Kaohsiung City and nearby areas of Kaohsiung County in 2002. Cases were aggregated by statistical areas and 1st and 2nd level dissemination areas. Results of the census geography system and the original jurisdictional areas were compared. Figure 5 is the distribution of individual Dengue Fever cases. Figure 6 shows results of different aggregation units. It can be seen that the census geography system is able to represent different levels of detail. Data aggregated by the statistical areas represents the most similar

distribution pattern with the individual cases. Data aggregated by townships generalizes distribution information and exaggerates the hot spot locates at the center of the study area.
Figure 4 the Census Geography System of Kaohsiung City

Figure 5 Distribution of Dengue Fever Cases, 2002

Figure 6 Data Aggregated by Different Units

5. SUMMARY AND FUTURE WORK It is concededly that census geography benefit to many social studies. Chu, et al. (1990) reviewed the use of 1980 census data in Taiwan. They concluded that one of the impediments in using census data is the inappropriate aggregation unit (used to be the jurisdictional areas). The census or other activity data now can be aggregated in a smaller unit, implying reduction of lost information due to generalization by aggregation. Moreover, the aggregated data can be easily integrated with the jurisdictional areas which are the aggregation units for some social-economic data.

Geocoding is the key issue for data to be integrated. Address matching is the most common case for geocoding. Fortunately, Taiwans NSDI has established the GIS address database for the entire country. Consequently, database updating becomes the critical issue for the census geography system. A procedure for GIS address updating is under developing. Population and social economic data used to be integrated by jurisdictional areas. People are accustomed to use this data for a long time. The utilization of census geography system must be promoted. More applications should be demonstrated and disseminated.

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