Building an address register for the 2021 Census and beyond
1. Building an address register for the
2021 Census
and beyond
Alistair Calder
Head of Address Register (ONS)
2. • Requirement – addresses in census – and why it’s easy
• Issues and our strategy – and why it’s hard
• The bigger picture – a national addressing service
• Our strategy & plan for 2021
5. The requirement (to be agreed)
• A ‘complete’ household frame >99% of household
spaces
( addresses)
• Minimal over-coverage
duplicates / commercial property / demolished etc
< 2 or 3% ?
• A brilliant communal frame (integrated with
residential)
• Up to date, correctly located etc etc …. And more
11. The challenge ..... Why it’s hard this time
• We have an excellent starting point but addresses are
complicated and change a lot. There will be error & error
clusters itself in the areas we care about the most – Very
difficult to check quality
• Extracting the right ones is difficult. Small errors can be
significant – and cause trauma
• Communals are important and particularly challenging
• Addresses are complex so matching is really hard
• We plan to do MUCH more with the register than post-out –
huge opportunity but attribute thinking is new
20. The challenge ..... Why it’s hard this time
• We have an excellent starting point but addresses are
complicated and change a lot. There will be error & error
clusters itself in the areas we care about the most – Very
difficult to check quality
• Extracting the right ones is difficult. Small errors can be
significant – and cause trauma
• Communals are important and particularly challenging
• We plan to do MUCH more with the register than post-out –
huge opportunity but attribute thinking is new
• Addresses are complex so matching is really hard
21.
22.
23.
24.
25. The challenge ..... Why it’s hard this time
• We have an excellent starting point but addresses are
complicated and change a lot. There will be error & error
clusters itself in the areas we care about the most – Very
difficult to check quality
• Extracting the right ones is difficult. Small errors can be
significant – and cause trauma
• Communals are important and particularly challenging
• We plan to do MUCH more with the register than post-out –
huge opportunity but attribute thinking is new
• Addresses are complex so matching is really hard
27. The challenge ..... Why it’s hard this time
• We have an excellent starting point but addresses are
complicated and change a lot. There will be error & error
clusters itself in the areas we care about the most – Very
difficult to check quality
• Extracting the right ones is difficult. Small errors can be
significant – and cause trauma
• Communals are important and particularly challenging
• We plan to do MUCH more with the register than post-out –
huge opportunity but attribute thinking is new
• Addresses are complex so matching is really hard
30. ... also directly relevant topics such as internet access ... now updated opendata at postcode
Albert Road
Southsea
Common
31. A probabilistic address frame
Probability of
• Existence of address
• type - HH/B/CE
• HH Size / structure
• Change / churn
• Hard to countness / category
• (multivariate >> categorisation
• Eg possible holiday home, carehome, student
accommodation
Address
Register
HH
Structure
2011
Census
HH structure,
churn, names
Activity data
Energy, utilities,
broadband, health,
house sales
Admin data
HH structure, churn,
names, house
prices, phone
numbers
Other
Shape / pattern
recognition
Survey paradata
Geoplace
And other CE sources
CE
New definition / schema
Inform field planning / targeting
Intelligent stratification
Prioritise follow up (address level)
Inform estimation & modelling
B
Business Reg
Business structure,
type, churn
Conceptually – all subject to ethical and privacy discussion !
Potentially
32. The challenge ..... Why it’s hard this time
• We have an excellent starting point but addresses are
complicated and change a lot. There will be error & error
clusters itself in the areas we care about the most – Very
difficult to check quality
• Extracting the right ones is difficult. Small errors can be
significant – and cause trauma
• Communals are important and particularly challenging
• We plan to do MUCH more with the register than post-out –
huge opportunity but attribute thinking is new
• Addresses are complex so matching is really hard
•
36. Address Index Alpha – Key Functions
ONS or
citizen
servicesingle
address UPRN
10 High St PO15 5RR 1234567891011
batch of
addresses
addresses
UPRNs
batch
match
Addressbase load
UPRNs
addresses
classifications
add attributes
UPRNs
addresses
classifications
attributes
extract
Feedback
to source
(improving quality)
api
api
api
39. Alpha – Address
Register build
2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 2020 2021 2022 2023April July October April July October
On-line Survey
transformation
Admin
Data
Admin Data –
Processing
Platform
Alpha
EDC – eQ Alpha EDC – eQ Beta
EDC – Response and Respondent Management Beta
Admin Data – Processing Platform Beta
EDC – Service enhancement
Admin/Survey
Integration
Discovery
Admin/Survey
Integration –
Alpha
Admin/Survey Integration – Beta
Alpha - Business
Register build
Beta - Business
Register build
Beta - Address
Register build
Registers
2019
Census
Rehearsal
Admin
Data for
Census
Census
Register Platform for ONS
Live services
Decision to
proceed to
beta Develop data migration and data loader for new
BIS data source
IDBR Service Migration
IDBR Migration
Roadmap
Business Statistics
Decision(s) to go
live
2021
Census
Life Events, Social Survey etc etc
40. Strategy on a page
Compare to other
sources
Field
check
Rehearsal
Test
Desk
check
Link sources
Admin &
commercial
Quality
Framework
For
communals
Best
sources
Graph
databases
Understand &
improve quality
of addressbase
Excellence in
matching
Government
Address
Register
Service
Fix
communals
Build
probablistic
register
citizen govt
Rules
41. • Address list ---> Probabalistic address register
• Address check ---> Desk work & checking
• Separate residential & CE lists ---> Integrated list
• Trauma ---> Proper field procedures for coping with error
• Unknown quality ---> High quality list cleaned by LAs
• ---> A National Address Register Service
2011 ---> 2021 – change