Anonymization and analysis of geo-referenced demographic and socio-economic data: population, household, and company attributes in the SynPop dataset

Abstract

As of 2025, the Swiss Federal Railways (SBB) use SynPop, a partly synthesized dataset combining demographic, socio-economic, and spatial data from sources like STATPOP and STATENT, for its transport modeling. Developed with ARE, SynPop supports mobility simulations and strategic planning, including the 2050 National Transport Perspectives. In the past, previous efforts to apply k-Anonymity yielded mixed results. While access to these datasets currently requires a form of NDA, the long-term goal is to enable unrestricted public access.