Geolinking Service SoRa - A FAIR Social-Spatial Science Research Data Infrastructure

The integration of social and spatial data offers significant potential for interdisciplinary research, but it is constrained by infrastructural, legal, and methodological challenges. The Geolinking Service SoRa addresses these by providing a sustainable, privacy-compliant research data infrastructure that enables the linkage of social science survey data with georeferenced spatial information. Building on established platforms such as the IOER-Monitor, ALLBUS, and SOEP, the Geolinking Service SoRa supports complex analyses at the interface of the social and spatial sciences.

A key innovation of SoRa is supporting the entire analysis process that involves geocoded survey data, including data preparation, linkage, and analysis within a secure environment. The infrastructure includes a user module, a public/private mode API, and a Geolinking API, along with R and Stata packages to support efficient workflows. Several geolinking methods are implemented, including point-to-point, buffer, isochrone-based, and routing to the nearest point of interest (e.g., schools or hospitals). Additionally, SoRa facilitates the preparation of analyses using structural datasets that mimic spatial distributions without exposing sensitive data and compromising data privacy. These synthetic datasets are tailored to specific survey datasets, it can enable researchers to test workflows and conduct preliminary, explorative analyses before accessing secure room environments.

This poster presents the project’s progress, from defining infrastructure components to creating prototypes and implementing privacy-preserving features. A live demonstration will showcase how SoRa can be used to enhance social-spatial research applications. By promoting FAIR and inclusive data integration, SoRa lays a strong foundation for interdisciplinary research, empowering scholars to tackle innovative anddata-driven questions with confidence.