GIS and Health Communication Dominic Popowich April 11, 2013

The History of GIS GIS = Geographic Information Systems Developed in Canada in the 1960s to assist with the Canada Land Inventory With advances in technology, GIS has seen widespread adoption in many sectors – Commercial (e.g. Google Earth) – Government (e.g. land surveys) – Academic (e.g. health geography)

GIS and Public Health Mapping for public health purposes goes back centuries (e.g. John Snow) Effective tool for displaying and analyzing the geographic distribution of health outcomes – Disease surveillance – Spatial epidemiology

GIS for Health Communication Interactive maps – Interactivity promotes public interest, but there is an increased risk of user error – Particularly useful when available online Static maps – Useful when one wants to control the message Maps should be comprehensible when taken out of context

GIS for Health Communication Source:

GIS for CBPR Toxic Avengers – High school students in Williamsburg/Greenpoint – Mapped local environmental hazards – Through making this map helped organize coalition (Community Alliance for the Environment) – Spurred collaboration on other environmental health issues Using GIS to target health disparities

Advantages of GIS There is an enormous amount of free GIS- ready data available online One may link multiple datasets and perform various analyses on them A well-made map can provide a concise summary of complex information – Quickly convey spatial trends in the data Influence politicians and other policymakers – E.g. mapping at the scale of legislative districts

GIS Tools Full software suites – ArcGIS – Quantum GIS (Open Source) Free mapping tools – ArcGIS Explorer Online ArcGIS Explorer Online – GeoCommons GeoCommons

Creating a map in GeoCommons Go to Sign up by providing your name and Start mapping! …let’s work through an example.

Challenges of GIS Map literacy Ecological fallacy Quality and compatibility of data Understanding relational databases Software usability GIS is just a tool, don’t get carried away!

Map Design Five principles of map design 1.Visual contrast 2.Legibility 3.Figure-ground organization 4.Hierarchical organization 5.Balance Well-designed maps and poorly-designed maps Well-designed maps poorly-designed maps

Additional Resources Map Design – ICA Commission on Map Design ICA Commission on Map Design – Design a great map layout - Land Trust GIS Design a great map layout - Land Trust GIS – Cartographic Communication – University of Colorado Cartographic Communication – University of Colorado GIS for Public Health – Public Health GIS Resources - University of California, Berkeley Public Health GIS Resources - University of California, Berkeley – Mapping Health Statistics to Inform Policymakers and the Public Mapping Health Statistics to Inform Policymakers and the Public Data sources – Statistics Canada Statistics Canada – CDC GIS Data Sources CDC GIS Data Sources

References Bell, S., Hoskins, R., Pickle, L., & Wartenberg, D. (2006). Current practices in spatial analysis of cancer data: Mapping health statistics to inform policymakers and the public. International Journal of Health Geographics, 5 (49), Cashman, S., Adeky, S., Allen, A., Corburn, J., Israel, B., Montano, J., Rafelito, A., Rhodes, S., Swanston, S., Wallerstein, N., & Eng, E. (2008). The power and the promise: Working with communities to analyze data, interpret findings, and get to outcomes. American Journal of Public Health, 98 (8), Osborn, D., Hinkle, L., & Rosenthal, J. (2011). Using geographic information to target health disparities: State experience. Retrieved from us.ahrq.gov/reports/race/GeographicInfoIB.jsp. us.ahrq.gov/reports/race/GeographicInfoIB.jsp Parrott, R., Hopfer, S., Ghetian, C., & Lengerich, E. (2007). Mapping as a visual health communication tool: promises and dilemmas. Health Communication, 22 (1),