Data quality and availability

Abstract

With the CLC scale, the boundaries do not coincide with national basemaps, which creates problems for analysis in areas where coastal pressures are high and the operating scales are smaller, such as Malta. A case in point is the use of unemployment data to analyse poverty. Another data quality issue that will affect the use of these indicators concerns data currency: when was the data created and is it still valid for current analysis? While some data sets may be collected periodically and allow for an annual trend analysis [e.g., bathing water quality), other data sets may spread over longer periods; a case in point being the decennial time frame of the Census. This introduces gaps in the interpretation when trying to relate the different indicators. The issue may be compounded when trying to compare the same indicators between different Member States. Comparability is also an issue when dealing with data sets from different countries which is gathered at different scales and projections.