Evaluation Platform of Sustainability for Global Systems: Statistical Approach to Geospatial Information for Big Data Integration

The authors of this book assert that Grid Square statistics, a method of aggregating data within a geographically defined Grid, may be an effective solution to approach geospatial data for big data integration. Grid Square statistics is a technique that allows us to collect and analyze data based on Grids and makes it easier to understand patterns and trends. Sustainability, a key concern for the future of our society, often involves balancing multiple independent objectives. These objectives and key performance indicators must be shared to solve multi-dimensional optimization problems with some constraints related to sustainability issues. However, many of these sustainability issues are challenges that are part of global systems, which are modeled as a complex system consisting of many components. Social, economic, and environmental aspects in our socio-economic systems require solutions designed for the sustainability of our society.

These conditions imply that Big Data must contribute to evaluating our current situation, actions, and changes to continuously change our behavior and society based on a Plan-Do-Check-Action (PDCA) cycle. The PDCA cycle, also known as the Deming cycle, is a four-step management method used to improve processes and products continuously. We must understand how to construct a platform by using Big Data to do so. Thus, extracting meaningful information from Big Data is crucially important in the advanced information society.

This book provides case studies based on Grid Square statistics. It shows their applications to socio-economic and environmental problems such as tourism, where we analyze visitor patterns to optimize resource allocation, SDGs indicator, where we monitor the sustainability of our socio-economic systems, and disaster management, where we face natural disaster to enhance preparedness. Finally, the book proposes a World Grid Square Statistics Reference Architecture for constructing data applications across organizations and domains and reports on design concepts, system architecture, and the implication of a data platform for World Grid Square data and statistics.

Aki-Hiro Sato works as Professor at Department of Data Science, Graduate School of Data Science, Yokohama City University. Aki-Hiro Sato received a Doctor of Information Sciences in Graduate School of Information Sciences from Tohoku University, Sendai, Japan in 2001. From 2000 to 2001, he worked as a Doctoral Fellow of the Japan Society for the Promotion of Science at the Research Institute of Electrical Communication of Tohoku University. From 2001 to 2019, he worked at the Graduate School of Informatics, Kyoto University. He was PRESTO Researcher at Japan Science and Technology Agency from October 2015 to March 2020. He has been Professor at Yokohama City University since April 2020, the Representative Director at the Research Institute for World Grid Squares since November 2020, and Guest Professor at Statistical Research and Training Institute, the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications since May 2019. A.-H. Sato's current interests are in understanding both external and internal environments of our society. He attempts to shed light on these problems from a data-centric point of view. His recent other interests are related to the data-driven system design from the man-machine point of view based on data and statistics.

Hiroe Tsubaki is Director General and Professor Emeritus of the Institute of Statistical Mathematics in Tokyo, Vice President of Transdisciplinary Federation of Science and Technology and a member of International Academia for Quality. After he received his Ph. D. degree from the University of Tokyo, as an applied statistician for quality management he worked in drafting statistical guidelines of clinical trials for the Ministry of Health and Welfare and licensing practices for new drug application as an expert member of the New Drugs Investigation Committee of the Central Pharmaceutical Affairs Council in1990s. He also conducted ethical monitoring of clinical trials as a member of the Central Ethics Committee for Strategic Research of the Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare in 2000s.  He was awarded the Deming Prize Honor Award in 2021 for his social implementation of quality management concepts in various fields including clinical evaluation.