Entity Resolution and Information Quality

4. Entity-Based Data Integration

Introduction

ER is often only an intermediate step in the larger process of entity-based data integration (EBDI). EBDI is the process of integrating and rationalizing the collective information associated with equivalent entities. Each reference may only provide a small portion of information about an entity, but combined with the information from other equivalent references a more comprehensive picture of the entity can emerge. Of course, some of the information provided by the equivalent references may be for the same attribute, a circumstance that can have both positive and negative implications. When attribute values agree, it tends to increase the level of confidence that the values are accurate. On the other ...