GIS Internet Map Servers for Health Applications

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GIS Internet Map Servers for Health Applications

• Carol L. Hanchette, Ph.D.
• Rebecca D. Martin, Ph.D.
• Research Triangle Institute
• Research Triangle Park, NC

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GIS and Health Services Research

• Physician/facility location and allocation
• Market and hospital service areas
• Delivery of health and community services to
  welfare recipients (DSS clients, childcare,
  employment, public transit)
• Census tract rankings for family services
  (factors identified, ranked, mapped by quintile)

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Health and Risk Factor Data to ID High Risk Areas

• Childhood lead poisoning
• Immunization Pockets of Need (logistic
  regression model used with immunization survey,
  birth certificates, census data)
• Prediction of Teen Live Birth Rates using Census
  Data (logistic regression using 4 indicators)

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Health and Risk Factor Data to ID High Risk Areas
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What is GIS?

• A set of tools for processing spatial data into
  information for enhanced decision making
• A relational database management system where
  each record in every database is tied to a
  geographic location

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Spatial and Attribute Data

• Spatial data contain information about location,
  dimensions, shape, associations and
  relationships.
• Attribute data describe the non-spatial
  components of the database.
• Linked through a geocode (e.g. county, zip code,
  street address)

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Spatial and Attribute Data
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Barriers to GIS Use

• Lack of trained GIS staff
• Cost of unavailibility of spatial data
• Costs of purchasing GIS software

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GIS Technology Trends

• Mini-computers ? Unix workstations ? PCs
• Command line ? Graphical User Interfaces ?
  Internet Map Server

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Internet Map Server Technology

• Hardware, software and data reside on GIS server
• Mapping and spatial analysis capabilities are
  accessed via Web browser
• Access public OR
• password-protected
• No training needed
• Customization/tool development

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Internet Map Server Technology
National Cancer Institute Atlas of Cancer
Mortality
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Venipuncture Project Management
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Venipuncture Project Management
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Central Cancer Registry Operations Management
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Central Cancer Registry Operations Management
Iowa patients, cities, hospitals and reporting
rates
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Central Cancer Registry Operations Management
Tennessee View all patients within 75 miles of
Johnson City
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Central Cancer Registry Operations Management
Spatial Query of Reporting Rate
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Visualization and Analysis of Cancer Data
Spatially enabling cancer data

• Automated geocoding
• Address matching
• Data aggregation to maintain confidentiality
• Provision of services
• Distance to patient
• Access to care

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Visualization and Analysis of Cancer Data

• Link to census and health outcomes data

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Visualization and Analysis of Cancer Data
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Quality Control of Geographic Identifiers

• Geocode data
• Use polygon overlay techniques or spatial query
  to examine correspondence of geographic
  identifiers (geocodes)
• Overlay GIS county boundary file to assign
  correct county to patient records, then compare.

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North Carolina Toxic Release Inventory Sites
Sites (represented by pink dots) that lie outside
North Carolina have incorrect latitude/longitude
coordinates. Over 1300 sites in NC, more than
100 located outside of state. Greenland sites
reversed lat/longs
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Quality Control of Geographic Identifiers

• North Carolina state agency health database
  example
• 265,492 records
• Only 158,552 (59.72) with zip code, county and
  city correspondence
• County of patient vs. county of health department
• Duplication of county/city names Henderson
  County in western North Carolina town of
  Henderson in north-central North Carolina
• Duplicate place names 9 Bethel, 9 Five Points,
  9 New Hope
• Different coding schemes (use Federal Information
  Processing Standard (FIPS) whenever possible