1. The benefit of GIS-reporting in the context of Water-related Health
Dr. Ina Wienand (MSc GIS)
Good afternoon ladies and gentlemen,
In the following 15 minutes I would like to show you the value of GIS application in the context of water-related health. I will do this by showing different colourful examples of GIS reporting on the cross-national level, national district level and on the catchment level.

2. Why using GIS in the context of Water & Health?
Water-related health is a matter of spatial aspects
high interoperability with environmental conditions like precipitation, soil, aquifer, geology, temperature chemical aspects
water infrastructure
epidemiology of water-related diseases
GIS is able to show the spatial distribution of water- related health data as thematic maps with different layers while using tables and data in the background
Why should we use GIS in the context of Water and Health? Because Water-related health is a matter of spatial aspects: First we have a high interoperability with environmental conditions like precipitation….
Second water infrastructure like e.g. pipes and wells
Third the epidemiology of water-related diseases includes a spatial compoment
Against this background GIS is able to show the spatial distribution of water-related health data as thematic maps with different layers…

3. . Concept of GIS Data recording + + . Data organization Data analysis
vector
raster
attribute data
Data recording + +
tables .
polygons
Data organization
Geo- database .
lines
points
Data analysis
The concept of GIS comprises data recording which includes vector data, raster data or attribute data
Data can be organised in a so called Geodatabase which also includes not only tables but also spatial data
Data analysis comprises a variety of spatial analytical techniques (some of them are shown in the following examples)
The data output are tables or maps as well as the possibility to apply a web-based approach
tables
maps
Data output +

4. Desktop-GIS versus Web-GIS
Implementing data into a desktop GIS
Desktop-GIS: ArcGIS 9
Geo- database
Implementing data into the Web-GIS
Storing data in a geodatabase
Nowadays there exist two types of GIS
The first is a desktop GIS approach where every user can develop his own GIS application
The second is a WEB-GIS approach which is performed via the internet. The user does not have to be a GIS expert, but is able to use simple GIS tools

5. What are the advantages of GIS reporting?
GIS presentation, layout and classification can be easily modified and adopted towards individual data
GIS include an extensive list of functions for analyzing and visualizing spatial data
GIS can be permanently updated and maps can be produced in a very short time
GIS can be used by advanced professionals and distributed to a large audience (e.g. internet)
GIS software does not have to be expensive
What are the advantages of GIS reporting?
GIS presentation, layout and classification can be easily modified and adopted towards individual data…

6. Getting information for the selected country
Web-GIS mapping on a cross-national level
Getting information for the selected country
The first example is a cross-national Web-GIS approach with data from the CISID database. You can see here an interactive map with different tools like zooming in and out and getting information for a selected country. The map shows the Giardia incidence for the WHO region Europe for the year 2006

7. Web-GIS mapping on a cross-national level
The second cross-national example shows the percentage of population with access to improved water supply. The data are collected from the Joint Monitoring Programme.

8. Development of a Web-GIS approach on a cross-national level
Differences to other static internet maps
selecting different layers (overlay layers)
zooming in and out (dynamic map)
selecting a specific region on a map
getting information of a specific country which is stored in the background for all years
labeling layers
The development of a Web-GIS approach on a cross national level shows differences to other static internet maps

9. Desktop-GIS mapping on a national level
Giardiasis incidence in Germany on the district level from 2001 to 2003
The next example is desktop mapping on a national level. The map show the Giardia incidence in Germany on a district level from 2001 to It is obvious that Giardia incidence is higher in the new Laender and in some parts in the west and south of Germany

10. Desktop-GIS mapping on a national level
Extreme values of Giardiasis incidence in Germany
Spatial statistical analysis (poisson distribution)
In order to show this more clear, a statistical analysis of extreme values of Giardiasis incidence was conducted. The red and yellow clusters are regions with extreme values of Giardiasis incidence

11. Desktop-GIS mapping on a national level
Surface water abstraction per inhabitant in the year 2001 in Germany
Another possibility is the GIS mapping of surface water abstraction per inhabitant. You can see here on the map the relative low part of surface water abstraction in the middle of Germany. Here e.g. dams and river water are used for drinking water supply

12. Desktop-GIS mapping on a national level
Inhabitants per drinking water extracting plant in Germany in 2001
The last example on national level shows the number of inhabitants per drinking water abstraction plant. Especially in the northeastern part and in the lower middle of Germany the number of inhabitants per plant is low

13. Desktop-GIS mapping on the catchment level
Prioritizing landuse risks (according to the WSP concept)
This example shows desktop mapping on the catchment level. It shows a catchment which is situated in the densely populated area of Cologne/Bonn in Northrhine-Westphalia in Germany and influenced by surface water of the river Rhine
A land use survey concerning the agricultural and other activities was used for risk categorisation. Most of the areas in the eastern part of the watershed have a moderate to high risk for groundwater contamination. This is because of the cultivation of strawberry and other specialized crops.

14. Desktop-GIS mapping on the catchment level
This map shows the nitrate concentration in the catchment by using spatial interpolation techniques. This helps to detect a spatial trend (like here higher values in the northern part of the catchment) because of agricultural activities.

15. Desktop-GIS mapping on the catchment level
Vulnerable population groups and residents
Another possibility of GIS application is the density analysis of vulnerable population groups and residents with need of protection like nursing homes, day care facilities etc. You can see here clusters of vulnerable population groups in different parts of the district.

16. Results and future prospects I
Data required by the progress monitoring system of the Protocol on Water and Health have a spatial component -> GIS is an ideal reporting tool
GIS is flexible in respect of integrating and combining other additional information into one reporting system
There are GIS standards available (OGC -> Open Geospatial Consortium) which provide a platform for interchanging data, models and results

17. Results and future prospects II
GIS analysis shows the identification of critical areas and provides therefore political action on a local basis
GIS reporting can be fully adopted in the Water Safety Plan approach (WSP)
GIS forms the basis of an effective public communication tool
Costs can be mitigated by using Open Source software and moving from desk-top applications to Web-based GIS systems

18. Future needs for GIS reporting on a cross-national level?
The level of data collection differs between countries (e.g. district or catchment areas)
Methods measuring, collecting and preprocessing data have to be standardized
Data descriptions have to be included into the metadata or refer to an external file of definition
As a result data can be analyzed on a cross-national level and allow conclusions which cannot be reached on local basis

19. Scheme of Cross-national GIS reporting
Cross- national Web-GIS
Use standardized data and metadata
National Desktop GIS
Country I
Country II
Country III
…etc.

20. Thank you for your attention! Questions?