{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,2,23]],"date-time":"2026-02-23T19:21:54Z","timestamp":1771874514638,"version":"3.50.1"},"reference-count":30,"publisher":"University of Toronto Press Inc. (UTPress)","issue":"2","content-domain":{"domain":[],"crossmark-restriction":false},"short-container-title":["Cartographica"],"published-print":{"date-parts":[[2004,6,1]]},"abstract":"<jats:p> Spatial analysis and mapping of georeferenced, individual-level data can help identify important geographical patterns or lead to knowledge significant for dealing with specific social issues in a particular area. However, given the need to protect personal privacy when using geospatial data, the possibility for undertaking geographical analysis on certain types of individual-level data is becoming increasingly circumscribed. This article addresses the need to protect geoprivacy while making georeferenced, individual-level data available in such a way that analytical results are not significantly affected. The effectiveness of three geographical masks with different perturbation radii (r) is examined using a data set for lung-cancer deaths in Franklin County, Ohio, in 1999. The findings reveal a rather consistent trade-off between data confidentiality and accuracy of analytical results. There seems to be a threshold r-value at which the results of analyses on masked data become substantially different from the original results. An r that produces an area about the average size of the study-area census-block groups achieves a desirable optimum trade-off between privacy protection and accuracy of results. The study shows that implementing appropriate geographical masks may help data managers or researchers establish the desirable trade-off, in a particular context, between privacy protection and accuracy of geographic information. <\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.3138\/x204-4223-57mk-8273","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2007,4,4]],"date-time":"2007-04-04T13:42:32Z","timestamp":1175694152000},"page":"15-28","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":137,"title":["Protection of Geoprivacy and Accuracy of Spatial Information: How Effective Are Geographical Masks?"],"prefix":"10.3138","volume":"39","author":[{"given":"Mei-Po","family":"Kwan","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Geography, The Ohio State University, Columbus, OH, USA"}]},{"given":"Irene","family":"Casas","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Geography, University at Buffalo-SUNY, Buffalo, NY, USA"}]},{"given":"Ben","family":"Schmitz","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Environmental Systems Research Institute, Inc., Danvers, MA, USA"}]}],"member":"1696","reference":[{"key":"atypb1","first-page":"19","volume":"27","journal-title":"Studies in the Social Sciences"},{"key":"atypb2","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"497","DOI":"10.1002\/(SICI)1097-0258(19990315)18:5<497::AID-SIM45>3.0.CO;2-#","volume":"18","journal-title":"Statistics in Medicine"},{"key":"atypb3","volume-title":"Interactive Spatial Data Analysis"},{"key":"atypb4","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"38","DOI":"10.1080\/01621459.1990.10475304","volume":"85","journal-title":"Journal of the American Statistical Association"},{"key":"atypb5","volume-title":"Closet Space: Geographies of Metaphor from the Body to the Globe"},{"key":"atypb6","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"85","DOI":"10.3201\/eid0202.960202","volume":"2","journal-title":"Emerging Infectious Diseases"},{"key":"atypb7","first-page":"165","volume":"20","journal-title":"Survey Methodology"},{"key":"atypb8","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"1895","DOI":"10.1002\/(SICI)1097-0258(19960915)15:17<1895::AID-SIM401>3.0.CO;2-W","volume":"15","journal-title":"Statistics in Medicine"},{"key":"atypb9","volume-title":"GIS and Public Health"},{"key":"atypb10","first-page":"5","volume":"39","journal-title":"Cartographica"},{"key":"atypb11","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"681","DOI":"10.1111\/1467-8306.00073","volume":"87","journal-title":"Annals of the Association of American Geographers"},{"key":"atypb12","volume-title":"Digital Places: Living with Geographic Information Technologies"},{"key":"atypb13","first-page":"20","volume":"11","journal-title":"GIS World"},{"key":"atypb14","first-page":"219","volume":"6","journal-title":"Statistical Science"},{"key":"atypb15","volume-title":"Spatial Epidemiology: Methods and Applications"},{"key":"atypb16","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"7","DOI":"10.1080\/01621459.1972.10481199","volume":"67","journal-title":"Journal of the American Statistical Association"},{"key":"atypb17","unstructured":"GIS and Health Research: An Introduction316"},{"key":"atypb18","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"256","DOI":"10.2307\/622936","volume":"21","journal-title":"Transactions of the Institute of British Geographers"},{"key":"atypb19","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"171","DOI":"10.2307\/144357","volume":"71","journal-title":"Economic Geography"},{"key":"atypb20","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"153","DOI":"10.1126\/science.7350648","volume":"207","journal-title":"Science"},{"key":"atypb21","unstructured":"The Role of Geographical Studies in Risk Assessment41533"},{"key":"atypb22","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"191","DOI":"10.1111\/j.1538-4632.1998.tb00396.x","volume":"30","journal-title":"Geographical Analysis"},{"key":"atypb23","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"85","DOI":"10.1007\/s101090050034","volume":"2","journal-title":"Journal of Geographical Systems"},{"key":"atypb24","volume-title":"1999 Ohio Mortality Public Use Statistical File: Description and File Documentation"},{"key":"atypb25","first-page":"1083","volume":"60","journal-title":"Photogrammetric Engineering and Remote Sensing"},{"key":"atypb26","unstructured":"Public Health Service Act. 1999. 42 U.S.C. 201."},{"key":"atypb27","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"627","DOI":"10.1016\/0098-3004(93)90099-Q","volume":"19","journal-title":"Computers and Geosciences"},{"key":"atypb28","volume-title":"Density Estimation for Statistics and Data Analysis"},{"key":"atypb29","volume-title":"On the Mode of Communication of Cholera"},{"key":"atypb30","unstructured":"URISA. 2003. 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