Geo-imputation

In data analysis involving geographical locations, geo-imputation or geographical imputation methods are steps taken to replace missing values for exact locations with approximate locations derived from associated data. They assign a reasonable location or geographic based attribute (e.g., census tract) to a person by using both the demographic characteristics of the person and the population characteristics from a larger geographic aggregate area in which the person was geocoded (e.g., postal delivery area or county). For example if a person's census tract was known and no other address information was available then geo-imputation methods could be used to probabilistically assign that person to a smaller geographic area, such as a census block group.[1]

See also

Notes and references

  1. Henry, Kevin A., Boscoe, Francis P., (2008). "Estimating the accuracy of geographical imputation". International Journal of Health Geographics 7 (3): 3. doi:10.1186/1476-072X-7-3. PMC 2266732. PMID 18215308.