Peildata

Peildata is a Dutch term used in data management to refer to reference data that serves as a benchmark, standard, or baseline against which other data, models, or outcomes are compared. This data acts as a stable point of reference for calibration, validation, thresholding, or performance assessment. Peildata can be static (unchanging over time) or time-indexed, depending on the use case.

In practice, peildata is selected for quality, representativeness, and relevance. It is used to calibrate predictive models, validate measurement systems, or set targets and thresholds in dashboards and reporting. It is common in statistics, environmental monitoring, finance, and public opinion research. For example, a weather service might use a well-established precipitation dataset as peildata to calibrate regional forecasts; a company might use historical sales data as peildata to set annual targets; a polling organization might treat a baseline survey as peildata for tracking changes in public opinion.

Quality and governance: the value of peildata depends on documentation of origin, data quality, applicability, and versioning. Provenance, metadata, and data lineage are important to ensure traceability. When using peildata that contains personal information, privacy and compliance requirements must be met.

See also: reference data, baseline data, calibration data, benchmark, data governance.