Anonymized Route Data Sub-region Masking
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing methods for anonymizing route data struggle to prevent de-anonymization, making it difficult to reuse such data without obtaining consent from all affected individuals, due to the potential identification of end points despite removal of personal identifiers.
Innovation Solution
Divide geographic areas into sub-regions and remove position information within these sub-regions that contain end points, masking the end points and making de-anonymization more challenging, while retaining information from waypoints between end sections for further analysis.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If personal identifiers are removed from route data, then anonymization is achieved, but de-anonymization remains possible through endpoint identification
Solution Approach 1:
The geographical area is divided into multiple sub-areas, and route data is segmented accordingly. By removing position information only within specific sub-areas containing endpoints rather than uniformly across the entire route, the patent achieves effective anonymization while preserving valuable route segment information for analysis.
2Loss of information
If all position information is retained, then route analysis capability is maximized, but storage requirements and data protection risks increase
Solution Approach 1:
The patent extracts and removes only the specific portions of position information that pose data protection risks (those within sub-areas containing endpoints), while retaining the rest of the route position data. This selective extraction approach minimizes storage reduction while achieving adequate anonymization.
3Reliability
If endpoint position data is removed for anonymization, then de-anonymization difficulty increases, but useful route information is lost
Solution Approach 1:
Different quality treatments are applied to different portions of the route data: position information within sub-areas containing endpoints is removed for anonymization, while position information in other sub-areas is preserved for analysis. This local differentiation achieves anonymization without unnecessary information loss.
Data Source
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AI summary
The invention relates to a method for providing recorded anonymized routes, each of which indicates a spatial movement of an object from a first end point to a second end point via successive path points and which are recorded by means of a position indication for said path points and anonymized by removing object-identifying data. The method has the following steps: dividing (11) a geographical region in which a route is contained into at least one sub-region; removing (12) all position indications of a route within end sub-regions of the route, i.e. within the sub-regions in which at least one end point of the route is contained; and outputting (13) the remaining position indications of the route for further analysis and/or control. The invention also relates to a device and a computer program product which are designed to carry out the method.