IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/wly/envmet/v37y2026i7ne70153.html

Securing Sensitive Data: A Synthetic Data Framework for Protecting Geographic Coordinates

Author

Listed:
  • Thaís Paiva Galletti
  • Marcos Oliveira Prates
  • Fernanda Buzza Alves Barros

Abstract

High‐resolution spatial data are critical for environmental and epidemiological research yet present significant privacy risks when released at the individual level. Traditional protection methods, such as aggregation or masking, often compromise data utility or introduce unrealistic spatial patterns. We propose a robust framework for generating fully synthetic geographic coordinates that balances privacy and analytical validity by modeling the spatial intensity through observed covariates. We extend existing methodology by incorporating continuous attributes into the model and strictly enforcing restricted areas (e.g., uninhabitable zones). Furthermore, we address the limitations of standard risk metrics in multimodal spatial distributions by proposing extended distance‐based risk measures that assess identification risk within probabilistic neighborhoods. We evaluate the framework through simulation studies and demonstrate its practical utility by generating synthetic georeferenced COVID‐19 notifications from Montes Claros, Brazil. Results demonstrate that our method preserves the spatial intensity structure of the data while providing a secure mechanism for sharing sensitive microdata.

Suggested Citation

  • Thaís Paiva Galletti & Marcos Oliveira Prates & Fernanda Buzza Alves Barros, 2026. "Securing Sensitive Data: A Synthetic Data Framework for Protecting Geographic Coordinates," Environmetrics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 37(7), October.
  • Handle: RePEc:wly:envmet:v:37:y:2026:i:7:n:e70153
    DOI: 10.1002/env.70153
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://doi.org/10.1002/env.70153
    Download Restriction: no

    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1002/env.70153?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:wly:envmet:v:37:y:2026:i:7:n:e70153. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    We have no bibliographic references for this item. You can help adding them by using this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Wiley Content Delivery (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.interscience.wiley.com/jpages/1180-4009/ .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.