19th International CODATA Conference
Category: Interoperability

The SEDO project: an Internet Navigator for publishing socio-economic data

Thomas TAMISIER (tamisier@crpgl.lu), Fernand FELTZ, Stéphane RIEGEL
Cellule de Recherche, d'Etude et de Développement en Informatique, Centre de Recherche Public - Gabriel Lippmann, Grand-Duchy of Luxembourg
 

The use of the Net for querying socio-economic databases has lately drawn the attention of both experts and the public at large, with a number of online services provided by statistical organizations of various countries, such as those in Europe that belong to the CESSDA. In Luxembourg, the CEPS/INSTEAD collects a bank of voluminous longitudinal data on the theme "Living in Luxembourg". The SEDO (Socio-economic Database Online) project aims to develop a Web platform for publishing and browsing this information. As a primary target, the project has in view the pluri-annual survey PSELL 2 that covers 7 years from 1995 to 2001.

Considering universal portability and flexibility to adapt to different databases as guidelines, the service offers customized presentations of statistics with guaranteed accuracy. Moreover, neither the use of specialized statistical tools nor expertise in the domain are required. Different levels of expertise are implemented: the general public is provided with fast indicators whereas advanced users query the database for their needs and apply statistical primitives to the results.

Summarized results are displayed with a minimum number of clicks through charts introducing the main themes or by browsing directly through tables of results. Complete databases are searched by 3 methods: a hierarchical approach implemented upon a self-documented thesaurus, a search engine with Boolean operators, and direct access by variable identification. The service contains a protected area for experts, with user identification. In this area, baskets of variables can be stored to query the tables and perform statistical analysis. Results can be downloaded, and a special memory keeps tracks on the server of the operations performed and the preferences of the user so that he can retrieve his customized configuration from any place on the Web.

Compared to other data navigators, Sedo gives the user full latitude to perform its own calculations. It merges the storage of all data into SQL tables and uses the SAS statistical system to analyze them. SQL tables are required to migrate the core of the system onto any kind of server, and to control the accessibility to the database, in order to ensure the secure handling of the confidential information. Due to the huge amount of information resulting from the combination of the variables, statistical weaves, individuals and family of the survey panels, a special design of SQL tables has been used to reduce the column numbers.