Privacy-Preserving Data Linkage through Blind Geo-spatial Data Aggregation

The Australian Urban Research Infrastructure Network (AURIN -- www.aurin.org.au) project is a federally funded initiative across Australia that is focused on development and delivery of an advanced Cloud-based platform for research into the many challenges facing the major urban settlements of Australia. AURIN provides direct programmatic (federated) access to a wide range of urban and built environment data (over 1000 data sets) from at present 35 major and typically definitive data providers. Most of the data sets made available to AURIN are aggregated at source by the providers to particular geospatial regions, e.g. Local Government Authority, Statistical Areas, Census Districts amongst a multitude of other levels. Increasingly however researchers require access to less aggregate data sets -- often requiring data right down to the individual (unit) level. In this context, AURIN has developed blind, privacy preserving data linkage solutions exploiting the geospatial nature of urban data through collaboration with the Department of Health in Victoria. This paper describes these solutions and how they have addressed the many sensitivities in delivering secure access solutions over the Cloud.