RIDIR: IPUMS-Terra: Global Population and Agricultural Data

University Of Minnesota-Twin Cities, Minneapolis MN

Investigators

Abstract

IPUMS Terra integrates, preserves, and disseminates data describing characteristics of the human population and the environment. By assembling a rich collection of the world's population and agricultural census data and incorporating it into the IPUMS Terra infrastructure, this project will enhance scientific understanding of critical policy-related issues such as food and water security, migration, socioeconomic and environmental vulnerability, and the effects of social and environmental policy on economic development, well-being, and long-run sustainability. IPUMS Terra and the data added under this project will be used by academic researchers from a wide range of disciplines, including ecologists, sociologists, economists, agronomists, and many others, to investigate important questions related to human-environment interactions. The findings of these researchers, along with direct use of the data by journalists, governmental officials, non-governmental organizations, and educators, will make important contributions to education, public understanding, and informed policy decisions. This project will incorporate data from over 1,000 population and agricultural censuses into IPUMS Terra. IPUMS Terra technology makes data from different formats commonly used by different scientific disciplines easily interoperable. The massive collections of area-level population and agricultural census tables incorporated under this project will address important gaps in the existing IPUMS Terra system. The new population data cover nearly every country in the world, making IPUMS Terra a truly global resource. In addition, aggregate data tables combine extensive topical depth with fine geographic detail, enabling detailed study of population and agricultural characteristics. Finally, the new agricultural census data will complement both population data and land use and land cover data already in IPUMS Terra, facilitating comprehensive examinations of human-environment interactions, food production systems, and socioeconomic and environmental vulnerability. This project has four main objectives: 1) Develop data manipulation tools to transform diversely formatted published tables into a standardized structure. 2) Extend metadata and workflow management tools to capture metadata describing the contents and provenance of each data element. 3) Process, document, and ingest tens of thousands of tables into the IPUMS Terra infrastructure. 4) Conduct outreach to the scientific community as well as students, policy makers, journalists, and the general public.