Central Statistical Bureau of Latvia – all Latvia's official statistics under one roof
The Central Statistical Bureau of Latvia was aiming to create a unified Official statistics portal to provide all Latvia official statistics from over 40 different instances in one place. Wunder’s team of professionals built a smooth, intuitive and accessible digital solution to address the need. The newly built solution works as an out-of-the-box data publishing system and can be applied to fulfil and solve the needs of any statistical institution.
Briefly
Wunder successfully partnered with the Central Statistical Bureau of Latvia (CSB) to create a unified Official Statistics Portal, consolidating data from over 40 different instances into one accessible platform. The project aimed to streamline data publishing, reduce manual workload, and optimize data input processes for statistical institutions in Latvia. Wunder's solution, a decoupled system using Drupal and ReactJS, incorporated open-source tools like PxWeb and Stage2 for effective data management and presentation. Elasticsearch, Reactive Search, and NextJS ensured fast and accurate data output, while a geospatial module provided map-based data visualization. The project resulted in a user-friendly platform offering easy data discovery, reduced manual work for providers, and an automated publishing calendar for timely data updates, meeting the needs of both data users and providers.
About this work
What is CSB
The Central Statistical Bureau (CSB) of Latvia is the main producer of statistics as well as coordinator of the official statistical work in the country. It provides independent high-quality statistical data for decision-making, research and discussions.
Objectives
Instead of searching multiple systems or websites, a unified platform for all Latvia official statistics was needed to provide accurate, quick to find and easy to use statistical data according to the needs and interest of users.
“Statistics portal is an out-of-the-box data publishing system that could be interesting for any authority publishing statistical data. It provides sophisticated data management interface, integrated spatial maps and automated publishing to open data portals.”
The challenge
There are ~40 State administrative bodies providing the official statistics in Latvia. The Central Statistical Bureau is the largest statistical provider and the managing authority of the whole system. While the CSB official statistics were published on the institution’s homepage, the other statistical authorities often used their own information systems or websites to publish the available data.
It was necessary to create a unified platform for all official statistical institutions in Latvia to publish their data in predefined and publicly announced time. It was clear that the solution should include descriptive metadata, geospatial statistics, research data catalogue and other information required for statistical users. Even more, it should as well optimize the data input process and reduce the manual workload.
The Solution
Data is the new gold, therefore we had to build a safe and reliable solution to take good care of this treasure. The client already had a clear vision of how the Official statistics portal should be built, how it should look and to whom it should serve. Wunder just had to turn these great ideas into reality.
The system was built around open-source tools used in the world of statistics like PxWeb (used in Nordic countries) and spatial data exploration tool Stage2 (Statistics Slovenia). The team at Wunder created a custom Drupal module that allows managing PxWeb data through the familiar Drupal interface. Creating PxWeb data tables, importing data from multiple sources (CSV files, external databases), performing scheduled publishing tasks, syncing with Open Data websites is now as easy as managing Drupal content.
To make the website performant, content management and content presentation layers are separated into a React-based front-end application and a Drupal-based content management platform.
To ensure all data is safely stored and quickly displayed, a decoupled solution on Drupal 8 and ReactJS was created for the base. We built a new Drupal module for data input in the Nordic Data ModelOpens in a new tab – MS SQL databases. For storage and dissemination of statistical tables, the client approved the open-source solution PxWebOpens in a new tab, which was integrated into the project.
As the statistical data is stored on multiple data libraries, it was important to ensure fast, accurate and specific data output. Elasticsearch engine in combination with Reactive Search and NextJS libraries were the right tools for the job.
And when it comes to data visualisation, a geospatial component was integrated to allow data display on a map. Our partner SunGIS enhanced the open-source solution built by Slovenia statistical institutions and supplemented it according to the client’s requirements.
The geospatial module data are aligned with INSPIREOpens in a new tab directives and automatically synchronizes with the whole data storage.
As the client has great experience in statistical data maintenance, the communication in the project was clear and easy. The most effective solutions were found through professional discussions combining the best practices and experience. Our development team even had a chance to expand their knowledge on several sector-specific tools and technologies.
"With the integrated data visualisations, thematic maps, reference metadata and user-friendly search, the project meets user expectations. It helps to discover statistics and to understand data phenomena with fewer resources required."
The results
The goal was to create a smooth, intuitive, accessible and easy to use platform for both data users and data providers. We built a digital solution where all official Latvia statistics can be fluently found in one place. On top of that, the newly built solution works as an out-of-the-box data publishing system and can be applied to any statistical institution or country.
For the data providers, the system allows unsophisticated data input through predefined data tables and provides fast data import and export, as well as reduces manual work. The pre-publishing environment helps to ensure all data tables are in place, looks good and are publish-ready, thus reducing the risk of inaccuracy.
An automated data publishing calendar informs the users of recently published data as well as scheduled data publications. This option provides equal opportunities for all data users.
A powerful search engine provides top-notch search, filter, arrange and display functionality. In addition to being quick and accurate, it also ensures high data security.
Interactive data visualizations are created to show trends in data, while geospatial relationships can be viewed in the map browser, showing data display types like data bubbles or pie charts. And as the datasets are internally linked, the user journey in this data world can be endless, because the system will always provide related statistical information to discover.
Services used in this project
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