Resolution degradation policy

Privacy

When a cell fails a privacy check, the correct response is to roll it up to a coarser resolution and re-check, not to drop it or leave it at the original resolution with a suppressed value, either of which loses coverage or gives a false sense of the original grain.

Detection

Any cell in the output failing the k-anonymity/DP check should trigger a resolution rollup; audit for cells that were dropped or suppressed-in-place instead.

Mitigation

  • Implement automatic iterative rollup to h3ToParent until the privacy threshold is met
  • Document, per output row, the resolution actually reported versus the resolution originally requested

Affected conversions

  • PointH3
  • RasterH3
  • Admin polygonsH3 (weighted crosswalk)