1. APHEO GIS Interest Group Environmental Scan May 1, 2008

2. Demographics 22 Surveys Completed 77.3% Public Health Units 59% Epidemiologists Others include Spatial Analysts, Health Analysts, Professors Primary User Role 54.5% -- Analyst/Technical

3. Education 64% have a Masters in Epidemiology 13.6% have a Bachelors in Geography 27.3% have a Post Graduate Certificate or Diploma in GIS

4. GIS Training 41% received training in post graduate level geospatial methods GIS in Public Health, Spatial Epidemiology, Geospatial, Interpolation, Regression Modeling, Spatial Statistics, Cluster Analysis, Spatial Modeling, Remote Sensing 54% received vendor specific training ESRI, APHEO Workshop, Intergraph Intro to GeoMedia,

5. Knowledge, Application and Experience Knowledge and application of GIS 82% have at least some knowledge 18% are very experienced Hands-on GIS experience 32% are quite/very experienced 41% have at some experience

6. GIS at Work 13% -- Daily 18% -- Weekly 27% -- Monthly 23% -- do not use

7. Analytical Methods and Techniques 79% -- Exploratory Data Analysis 77% -- Geocoding Techniques 59% -- Buffering, Vector Overlays 32% -- Cluster Analysis, Spatial Autocorrelation 27% -- Raster or Grid Analysis 27% -- Network Analysis 27% -- Interpolation methods

8. GIS Projects Mapping Census data by DA cases/rates of disease, locations of facilities tobacco vendors within 2 km radius of schools adverse water results Vector-Borne Surveillance (WNv, Lyme) Early Years EDI Data Emergency Medical Services Ambulance Mapping Beach Monitoring and Surveillance Inspection Boundary Re-Districting Boil Water Advisory Logistics Pandemic Planning, Client Distribution Mapping. Neighbourhood analysis Niday data - calculated distance traveled to delivery hospital Generate Ward profiles, to map reproductive and other health data by Wards Development of interactive mapping function for inTool Small area mapping of cancer risk, as well as risk assessment of the possible relationship between environmental exposures and cancer

9. Software Use, Familiarity, Skill Software used to access/process/map 82% ESRI (ArcGIS) 14% Open Source GIS or Other

10. SoftwareFamiliarity (at least somewhat) ExpertIntermediateNovice ArcGIS 86%18%32%36% MapInfo 46%23% SatScan 27%4%27% SAS/SAS Mapping 23%4% 18% Crimestat 14%4%23% GeoDa 14%4% 14% R 4%14% SPSS Spatial 14%4%18% SPlus 14%4% 14% WinBUGS/ GeoBUGS 9%18%

11. Implementation of OPHS and PHAS Protocol Can we meet the spatial expectations presented in the new standards/protocols? 50% said yes, 36% said no Does your organization have policies and procedures specific to the use of GIS? 18% said yes, 68% said no Is there a need for standardization of spatial activities and/or indicators? 73% said yes, 18% said no

12. APHEO GIS Interest Group Why did you Join? 86% -- General 46% -- New analytical methods 32% -- Core indicator development 73% -- Promoting the use of GIS in public health 54% -- Access GIS support

13. APHEO GIS Interest Group Focus Standardizing processes so that there is the ability to compare between PHU's, LHINs, etc. Establishing a basis level of proficiency in each organization Coordinate educational sessions to increase awareness, knowledge and use of GIS in public health units Putting together some sort of resource list for members to access Analysis issues Skills development Development of spatial indicators Develoment of an inventory of what has been done Sharing of templates/worksheets that can be used by others Exploring potential for advanced spatial analysis Immediate and long-term training needs Methods of expanding the use of GIS in public health

14. APHEO GIS Interest Group Ideas for education topics Demonstration of ArcView Basic cartography Basic spatial data handling - creating geospatial databases Software for statistical approaches Geocoding, address cleaning, standardization Available data sources and what you can do with them Case studies - use of GIS in public health (local, relevant topics) Learning about/how to incorporate enhanced graphics Advanced GIS tips and tools Interactive mapping tools for on-line mapping Cluster analysis and spatial statistics Potential uses of GIS in infectious diseases surveillance given limitations of low numbers and limited resource Interfaces with other software Time series and trend analysis using GIS

15. APHEO GIS Interest Group APHEO Website 32% feel that it is VERY important to enhance the GIS Interest Group presence 41% feel that it is important 23% feel that it is of moderate importance

16. APHEO GIS Interest Group Elements that should be included on the Website: Examples of members work Calendar of GIS Events, Upcoming educational sessions FAQs for mapping in Public Health Data Acquisition and Quality issues Links to product help sites, Presentations, PDF's, Lectures, Reference Material Categorized, GIS Data Sources Portals devoted to specific areas of GIS and Public Health Focus on Public Health Web Mapping Applications Policies and procedures GIS-specific indicators Standards and Best Practices Contact info of expert users, so people can ask questions