The Research Potential of Administrative Data: An Illustrative Example of the Utility of Register Information in Spatial Analysis

Taking as their starting point the falling utility of government data sources for academic work, the authors seek to discuss possible alternatives. A brief overview of the problems of public data access is presented, and the current situation is outlined with examples, before a more detailed discussion is given of one particular area of growth—register information. The problems of analysing register data are discussed, and an example of a hereditament-based property register is presented in detail. This leads to a discussion of a Monte Carlo methodology as the most appropriate: the methodology is described in principle, before being applied to the exemplar data set. Last, the combination of a novel data set with this methodology is evaluated, and the ‘real-world’ question of whether Tyneside's light rail transit system, ‘Metro’, has influenced land-use change in the area is taken as an example.