Data Analytics, Informatics & Visualisation
The production of high-quality primary data (i.e. through the Quality of Life survey) and the collection of secondary data (including geo-spatial data) remain core to fulfilling the GCRO’s mandate. With the increasing volumes of data being made available and the awareness of the importance of data, it is important to keep abreast of new and innovative ways to analyse and communicate our findings for our broad audience.
The importance of packaging data and research results in meaningful ways to policy-makers and other stakeholders is necessary. There has been a surge in the amount of data available and the types of data that can be used to capture complexities observed in the socio-economic and attitudinal circumstances of citizens. For example, besides the availability of large amounts of traditional survey data that are mostly structured, big data also includes unstructured data (e.g. texts, images, video, voice notes, etc.) collected from social media platforms. A considerable amount of big data is also made available through imagery obtained from sensors aboard satellites orbiting the earth or flying drones or aircraft. Furthermore, citizens themselves have become big data producers by using specialised applications running on their mobile devices
All this presents an opportunity to understand better some of the complex dynamics and trends shaping our society. The idea is not just to identify and highlight some of the social ills that affect the city-region but also to conduct predictive analysis and “what-if” scenarios to clarify the optimal ways to address identified socio-economic issues.
This research area encompasses exploring, interrogating, and experimenting with novel data collection methods and data-driven analytical approaches and more innovative data visualisation and communication platforms to better understand the GCR and translate insights into consumable formats for better decision-making.