Introduction

Abstract

In this chapter, we show that linking individual records from different databases is indispensable for many research purposes and data usage in practical applications. Almost all analyses of Big data sources require linking several databases containing information about the same or similar populations. We discuss examples of applications from medicine, economics, and official statistics. Since the GDPR and other legal restrictions usually require pseudonymisation, the use of error tolerant pseudonymisation methods becomes necessary. Based on the increasing number of research published in diverse areas we show that the need for the techniques presented in this book is becoming more important.