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For any question on data and metadata, please contact: Eurostat user support |
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1.1. Contact organisation | Swiss Federal Statistical Office |
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1.2. Contact organisation unit | Division of Spatial Economy and Sustainable Development |
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1.5. Contact mail address | Federal Statistical Office |
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2.1. Metadata last certified | 20/11/2012 | ||
2.2. Metadata last posted | 20/11/2012 | ||
2.3. Metadata last update | 20/11/2012 |
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3.1. Data description | |||
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3.2. Classification system | |||
Specific classification and coding systems have been developed for the spatial units and for the variables and indicators of the Urban Audit project. Classification system for the spatial units The city code consists of a 2-digit country code, a 3-digit city code and a final C for Central City - for LUZ an L is used and for SCD a D. Each Sub-City district will have the city code plus a unique number afterwards to identify the individual Sub-City District within the city. Thus, each sub-city unit will have a unique code. In the Urban Audit, some cities have 2 sub-city levels. For this reason, 5 extra positions are used for sub-cities. The total length of the sub-city code is 11 characters. Classification system for the UA variables A variable is the raw data collected by the national statistical offices of the countries. The variable data serves as the raw data for the calculation of the indicators. The variables serve as either the numerator or denominator of the indicator equation, depending on how this has been defined. Classification system for the UA indicators Indicators are labelled in a similar way to variables, except that the names end with an I to identify them as indicators. For examples on these classifications please refer to the UA reference metadata. |
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3.3. Coverage - sector | |||
The indicators and variables cover several aspects of quality of life, for e.g. demography, housing, health, crime, labour market, income disparity, local administration, educational qualifications, environment, climate, travel patterns, information society and cultural infrastructure. For the complete list of indicators and variables see the Urban Audit Reference Metadata. |
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3.4. Statistical concepts and definitions | |||
For most of the indicators, existing international standards have been followed as far as possible. Detailed information on concepts and definitions used are available from the Urban Audit Reference Metadata. |
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3.5. Statistical unit | |||
In the Urban Audit data is collected for cities. The selection of participating towns / cities and the definition of the composition of the LUZ and the SCD in terms of spatial units need to respect certain criteria set by DG Regional Policy and Eurostat and those concerning statistical quality in general:
This "sampling" procedure for the Urban Audit project was carefully and specifically designed by Eurostat, DG REGIO, the National Statistical Offices and the towns / cities in the countries. The final selection of participating towns / cities in the Urban Audit was a compromise between all aspects. The Large City Audit involves all "non-Urban Audit cities" with more than 100,000 inhabitants in the EU. The list of participating cities was agreed bilaterally with the Member States. |
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3.6. Statistical population | |||
Switzerland – under the auspices of the Federal Statistical Office (FSO) in coordination with the Federal Office for Spatial Development (ARE) – is conducting the Urban Audit with its ten most populated cities, Zurich, Geneva, Basel, Bern, Lausanne, Winterthur, Lucerne, St. Gallen, Lugano and Biel/Bienne since 2009, after a pilot phase (2006/08) with 4 Swiss cities. |
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3.7. Reference area | |||
EU Member States, Switzerland, Norway, Croatia and Turkey are represented in the data collection. |
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3.8. Coverage - Time | |||
Data are available for the period 2007 to 2009. |
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3.9. Base period | |||
Not applicable. |
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The unit of measurement varies from indicator to indicator; from variable to variable. In most cases the unit of measurement is included in the label. |
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Data are provided for three reference years, 2007, 2008 and 2009. Census-year 2000 is included in case of unavailability of the reference year. |
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6.1. Institutional Mandate - legal acts and other agreements | |||
Visit the Portal to European Union Law. All data supply of urban statistics is based on a voluntary agreement, as there is no Community legislation yet on this topic http://eur-lex.europa.eu/en/index.htm. |
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6.2. Institutional Mandate - data sharing | |||
Not applicable. |
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7.1. Confidentiality - policy | |||
Regulation (EC) No 223/2009 on European statistics (recital 24 and Article 20(4)) of 11 March 2009 (OJ L 87, p. 164), stipulates the need to establish common principles and guidelines ensuring the confidentiality of data used for the production of European statistics and the access to those confidential data with due account for technical developments and the requirements of users in a democratic society. |
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7.2. Confidentiality - data treatment | |||
Not applicable. |
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8.1. Release calendar | |||
Not available. |
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8.2. Release calendar access | |||
Not available. |
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8.3. Release policy - user access | |||
Not available. |
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The periodicity of the data is 3-years. A few indicators are collected annually. The database is updated occasionally (on average quarterly) depending on the data availability of new and revised data. |
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10.1. Dissemination format - News release | |||
Not available. |
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10.2. Dissemination format - Publications | |||
Not available. |
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10.3. Dissemination format - online database | |||
Not available. |
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10.4. Dissemination format - microdata access | |||
Not available. |
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10.5. Dissemination format - other | |||
Not available. |
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10.6. Documentation on methodology | |||
Not available. |
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10.7. Quality management - documentation | |||
Not available. |
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11.1. Quality assurance | |||
Not available. |
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11.2. Quality management - assessment | |||
Overall, it can be written down that the processes and the quality of the Urban Audit are established. Nevertheless, there are a few recommendations that can be given from a Swiss point of view:
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12.1. Relevance - User Needs | |||
Not available. |
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12.2. Relevance - User Satisfaction | |||
Not available. |
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12.3. Completeness | |||
Overall, 80% of the variables could be delivered for the reference years for the Urban Audits 2009-2011 (including the variables that can only be delivered based on the census year 2000). Missing variables Most domains can be delivered with more than 80% of the respective variables. The economic aspects represent the domain with the most missing data. Generally, the absence of data is based on:
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13.1. Accuracy - overall | |||
Not applicable. |
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13.2. Sampling error | |||
Not applicable. |
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13.3. Non-sampling error | |||
Not applicable. |
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14.1. Timeliness | |||
Depends on the domain and individual indicator. As a general rule, timeliness is about 24 months. |
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14.2. Punctuality | |||
Not available. |
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15.1. Comparability - geographical | |||
The approach of collecting data from existing sources makes it difficult and sometimes impossible to achieve comparability of variables over the entire "population". The National Urban Audit Coordinators did their best to achieve comparability of urban data, at least within their own country. Wherever it was not possible, attempts were made to estimate the data; where this has been achieved it is noted in the database with a flag. Due to the sometimes deviating definitions and different data sources used the comparability of data is limited to some extent. Detailed information is available from the Methodological manual on city statistics or upon request. For more information please refer to the UA reference metadata. |
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15.2. Comparability - over time | |||
For the cities included into the data collection after 2004 no data for 1991 and 1996 were collected. For 1991 to 1996 (historical data) only a subset of the indicators are available. |
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15.3. Coherence - cross domain | |||
Data collected at sub-national level is coherent with the data collected at national level to a limited extent due to the different data sources used. |
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15.4. Coherence - internal | |||
Internal coherence (e.g. between spatial levels, between indicators like total, male, female population) is ensured through the application of multivariable and univariable validation controls. |
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Not available. |
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17.1. Data revision - policy | |||
No preliminary data is published. |
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17.2. Data revision - practice | |||
As the Urban data cover are very extensive, it cannot be excluded that errors exist in the data. Detected errors will be corrected after consultation with the national coordinator. |
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18.1. Source data | |||
Not available. |
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18.2. Frequency of data collection | |||
Not available. |
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18.3. Data collection | |||
Not available. |
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18.4. Data validation | |||
Not available. |
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18.5. Data compilation | |||
Not available. |
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18.6. Adjustment | |||
Not available. |
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Transnational Urban Audit After having concluded the pilot phase with the city of Geneva, Basel joined the pioneer project of the transnational Urban Audit. Hence, Geneva and Basel are the two cities concerned by the transnational Urban Audit. This project is about to be realized (definition of the transnational larger urban zone’s perimeter, organization of data ordering at the NSIs of Germany and France, coordination of the Swiss NSI and the two cities of Geneva and Basel). Furthermore, it has been decided that data for the larger urban zone of Geneva and Basel will be transnational data from 2012 on. |
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