Applications of GIS Technology in Professional Health

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Applications of GIS Technology in Professional
Health
Christian Connections for International Health
Annual Conference, May 27 29, 2006 Scott A.
Todd
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What is GIS (Geographic Information System)

• Geographic ? Maps
• Information ? Database
• System ? Hardware, Software, Data,
• People, Plans/Programs

GIS combines the intuitive visual clarity of a
map together with the information structuring,
searching and analyzing power of a database.
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What is not GISGPS - The Global Positioning
System
A GPS receiver is a tool used for data
collection, determining your position on the
earth, or wayfinding GPS coordinates can be a
type of data input for a Geographic Information
System
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Data The Main Ingredient
How GIS Works. . .
Features, Attributes Operations

• Vector points, lines, polygons (areas)
• Raster images (aerial photos), grids
• Tabular databases, spreadsheets

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Features (Vector data)

• Points Village, Facility, Household, Patient
• Lines Roads, Rivers, Utility Line
• Polygons Parcel, Census Tract, Service Area

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Attributes (Tabular Data)

• Events/Objects Village name, Facility type,
• Household size, Patient condition
• Route/Network Road capacity, River name,
• Sewer main size, Boundary length
• Area/Region Parcel size (Acres), Demographics,
• Service Area (number of patients)

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Operations - Geoprocessing

• Data Integration Collection, Conversion,
  Rectification,
• Correlation/Confirmation
• Management Data update/maintenance, Joining w/
• other databases, Merge data sets
• Analysis Selection/Extraction, Proximity,
  Distribution,
• Relationships, Overlay, Change/Trends
• Reporting Printed Maps, Tabular Reports

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So What . . .

• A Geographic Information System is not just a
  fancy tool for making attractive, detailed maps.
• GIS provides a dynamic visual representation of
  the information contained in a database, along
  with the power to query and manage the database.
• GIS tools support the creation and integration of
  various kinds of data sets to analyze and better
  understand existing patterns, distributions and
  relationships between features.
• GIS analysis can generate new data to support
  clearer insight and communication for needs
  assessment, decision making for strategic
  planning and data management for implementation,
  monitoring and evaluation of programs and
  initiatives.

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Who Uses GIS

• Archaeology
• Agriculture
• Banking
• Defense and Intelligence
• Education
• Electric and Gas
• Engineering
• Fire/EMS/Disaster/Homeland Security
• Forestry
• Government (Federal, State, County, Local)
• Health and Human Services
• Insurance
• Landscape Architecture
• Law Enforcement and Criminal Justice

• Libraries and Museums
• Location Services
• Logistics
• Marine, Coast and Oceans
• Marketing
• Media
• Mining and Earth Sciences
• Natural Resources
• Petroleum
• Real Estate
• Retail Business
• Telecommunications
• Transportation
• Universities
• Water and Wastewater
• Weather

Source Environmental Systems Research Institute
Geography Matters, White Paper, 2002
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Health Geography

• It is useful to divide the geography of health
  into two interrelated areas
• The geography of disease, which covers the
  exploration, description and modelling of the
  spatio-temporal (space-time) incidence of disease
  and related environmental phenomena, the
  detection and analysis of disease clusters and
  patterns, causality analysis and the generation
  of new disease hypotheses
• The geography of healthcare systems, which deals
  with the planning, management and delivery of
  suitable health services (ensuring among other
  things adequate patient access) after determining
  healthcare needs of the target community and
  service catchment zones.

Source Boulos, Kamel MN - Geographic Informatics
in Health, School for Health, University of Bath
Bath BA2 7AY, UK
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GIS Health Software
GIS Software Developing Organization Price
EpiInfo / EpiMap Center for Disease Control (CDC) Free
HealthMapper World Health Organization (WHO) Free
SIGEpi Pan American Health Organization (PAHO) 100 Health Inst. 500 Non-Profit 1000 Private
ArcGIS Environmental Systems Research Institute (ESRI) 1500 Maintenance
Source Alsahhar, Belew, Getachew, McElroy - GIS
in Public Health, University of Dallas, Oct 2005
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WHO HealthMapper

• About HealthMapper
• Original version 1993 by World Health
  Organization
• Supports range of infectious diseases in over 60
  countries
• Public Health Needs Capable of Addressing
• Analysis of disease outbreaks, chronic diseases,
  injuries
• Limited Management of distribution of health
  resources
• Software is Free
• Data Format Support
• Import and modify shapefiles
• Import and Link Excel, Access, dBase, .CSV,
  .REC (EpiInfo)
• System Requirements Windows (98/NT/2000/Me/XP)

Source Alsahhar, Belew, Getachew, McElroy - GIS
in Public Health, University of Dallas, Oct 2005
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WHO HealthMapper

• Advantages
• Free can be downloaded from WHO website
• Very useful in supporting health
  surveillance, disease
• prevention and control
• Disadvantages
• Limited complex statistical capabilities
• Data not provided with software
• Publicly funded programs
• Limited Technical support

Source Alsahhar, Belew, Getachew, McElroy - GIS
in Public Health, University of Dallas, Oct 2005
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EpiInfo / EpiMap

• About EpiInfo / EpiMap
• Created by the Centers for Disease Control (CDC),
  in 1985
• Latest Version Epi Info Version 3.3.2,
  released Feb 2005
• Over 1,000,000 downloads in 180 countries
• Public Health Needs Capable of Addressing
• Meets most needs in epidemiological studies, such
  as disease outbreaks or other public health
  analysis
• Software is Free
• Data Format Support
• Import and modify shapefiles
• Compatible with ESRI ArcView, MS Access, Excel,
  dBase, CSV, XML
• System Requirements (Windows 95/NT/98/2000/Me/XP)
  

Source Alsahhar, Belew, Getachew, McElroy - GIS
in Public Health, University of Dallas, Oct 2005
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CDC EpiInfo/EpiMap

• Advantages of EpiInfo
• Meets most needs in epidemiological studies
• Free, can be downloaded from CDC WebPages
• With a little computer experience can do simple
  useful analysis
• Disadvantages of EpiInfo
• Lacks statistical spatial data analysis
• EpiInfo and EpiMap are two stand-alone programs
• Data not provided with software
• Publicly funded programs
• Limited Technical support - reference to
  available manual

Source Alsahhar, Belew, Getachew, McElroy - GIS
in Public Health, University of Dallas, Oct 2005
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SIGEpi

• About SIGEpi
• Developed by Pan American Health Organization
  (PAHO), latest version 1.4
• Supports Multi-languages (Spanish and Portuguese)
• Public Health Needs Capable of Addressing
• Provides complex analysis methods for health data
• Management of distribution of health resources
• Data Format Support
• Reads and processes files in Shapefile and
  ArcInfo coverage formats from ESRI other formats
  include Vector Product Format (VPF) CAD and
  EpiMap
• SIGEpi has RDBMS that use MS Access and
  interchange in other formats (Dbase, Excel,
  Btrieve, EpiInfo)
• System Requirements Windows (98/NT/2000/Me/XP)

Source Alsahhar, Belew, Getachew, McElroy - GIS
in Public Health, University of Dallas, Oct 2005
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SIGEpi

• Price
• Health and Academic Institutions (100)
• Non-Profit Agencies (500)
• Personal and Private Agencies (1,000)
• Advantages
• Offers a broad GIS platform with functions for
  statistical spatial data analysis integrated into
  the program
• Creates geographical layers based on geographic
  data from GPS receivers
• SIGEpi was built based on ESRIs MapObjects
• Disadvantages
• It has limitations in editing geographic
  databases
• Maintenance Technical support via Discussion
  forum or emails or reporting errors or
  recommendations

Source Alsahhar, Belew, Getachew, McElroy - GIS
in Public Health, University of Dallas, Oct 2005
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ESRI ArcGIS

• About ESRI ArcGIS
• Company started in 1969, founded by Jack and
  Laura Dangermond, privately held company
• ArcView 1.0 released in 1992
• Public Health Needs Capable of Addressing
• Analysis of disease outbreaks, chronic diseases,
  injuries
• Management of distribution of health resources
• Data Format Support
• Direct read and import capabilities of more than
  70 different formats, including rasters (images)
  and ODBC
• Import, edit, and export of shape files
• Price Single user license 1500
• Annual Maintenance 500 to 3,000
• System Requirements Windows (98/NT/2000/Me/XP)

Source Alsahhar, Belew, Getachew, McElroy - GIS
in Public Health, University of Dallas, Oct 2005
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ESRI ArcGIS

• Technical Assistance
• Free for initial year of purchase
• Advantages
• Industry leader in Public health sector
• Many extensions built on ArcGIS
• Base data provided with software
• Software is scalable
• Custom Scripting Capabilities - in VB, C, .NET
• Disadvantages
• Expensive application and maintenance package
• Not specifically oriented toward Health
  Applications
• Need to have hands-on experience or extensive
  training

Source Alsahhar, Belew, Getachew, McElroy - GIS
in Public Health, University of Dallas, Oct 2005
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Data Formats

• Each offers Free Online Training Manuals
• Each product offers Data format support for
• Shapefiles (.SHP)
• Excel
• .CSV
• MS Access
• dBase
• .REC
• Each product can read data from a GPS

Source Alsahhar, Belew, Getachew, McElroy - GIS
in Public Health, University of Dallas, Oct 2005
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Comparison Matrix
HealthMapper EpiInfo /EpiMap SIGEpi ArcGIS
Health Analytic Support Needs Met? Yes Yes Yes Yes
GIS Capabilities? Limited Limited Yes Yes
Cost Free Free 100 Health inst. 500 Non-Profit 1000 Private 1500 single user 500 -3000 Annual maintenance
Tech Support None Limited None Free 1st year
Source Alsahhar, Belew, Getachew, McElroy - GIS
in Public Health, University of Dallas, Oct 2005
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The Future of GIS in Health

• HealthQuery An online healthcare services/access
  application.
• Collaborative project of Good Hope Medical
  Foundation, California Department of Health
  Services Centre for Health Statistics, the
  National Health Foundation (NHF), ESRI, Oracle
  and Sun Microsystems
• This figure shows a search for the nearest
  hospitals within a 5-mile radius around 92373
  (Zip code, CA, US).
• HealthQuery found 4 locations.

Source Boulos, Kamel MN - Geographic Informatics
in Health, School for Health, University of Bath
Bath BA2 7AY, UK
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GIS Demonstration
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Sources
Contact

• Scott A Todd
• scott_at_gmi.org
• 610-617-0195
• Global Mapping International
• 15435 Glen Eagle Drive, Suite 100
• Colorado Springs, CO 80921 USA
• info_at_gmi.org

• Alsahhar, Belew, Getachew, McElroy - GIS in
  Public Health
• University of Dallas, Oct 2005
• Boulos, Kamel MN - Geographic Informatics in
  Health
• School for Health, University of Bath, Bath BA2
  7AY, UK