This document provides an introduction to health GIS. It defines key terms like geography, geospatial, health geography and GIS. It discusses the history of GIS in health, including Dr. John Snow's use of maps to study the 1854 London cholera outbreak. The document outlines applications and advantages of health GIS, basic techniques like spatial analysis and overlay, and proposes developing a health GIS layer for Sri Lanka to improve data management, decision making and policy.

1. Introduction to
Health GIS
Dr.B.D.W.Jayamanne
MBBS(Kelaniya),MSc.(Biostatistics), MSc.(Biomedical Informatics)
Medical Officer (Health Informatics) - National Dengue
Control Unit - Ministry of Health , Sri Lanka

2. Introduction
Terms, Definition(s) and Concepts
Related Technologies
History
Applications and Advantages
Basic Techniques
Way Forward
Proposed GIS Health layer for Sri Lanka
Conclusion
Outline

3. Introduction
Location matters...
Concept that location can influence health is a very
old one in medicine
Physicians observed that certain diseases tend to
occur in some places and not others (Hippocrates
time -3rd Century B.C)
Different locations on Earth are usually associated
with different profiles: physical, biological,
environmental, economic, social, cultural , etc
These profiles and associated health and disease
conditions may also change with time (the
longitudinal or temporal dimension)

4. Few Important words…
Geography -
Is the science of place and space
Involves of study of spatial phenomena of all kinds
Spatial -
All the things exists somewhere in space
Geospatial -
Refers to the data and technology that allow one to
explore Geographic problems Eg. Geospatial
information, Geospatial systems
Introduction…

5. Introduction…
Few Important words…
Health/Medical Geography –
How disease and health care are distributed spatially
Geography of Disease –
 Exploration, description and modeling 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
Geography of Healthcare Systems –
 The planning, management and delivery of suitable health
services

6. Introduction…
Few Important words…
Information System –
An integrated set of components for collecting, storing,
and processing data for delivering information i.e.
Hardware, Software and Human resource
What is Geographic Information System (GIS) ?
Is an information system
This is special system where data/information is
associated with location (Geographical reference)
What is Health GIS ?

7. Introduction…
•Components of GIS
People
Software
DataProcedures
Hardware

8. Introduction…
Few Important concepts…
Earth is round (sphere ) and maps are flat!
Map projections (Point in 3D to point in 2D)
To locate an object in space we need a reference system
Geographic coordinate system
Latitude - Provide North/South parallels
 +/- 90 degrees from the equator
Longitude - Provide East/West meridians
 +/- 180 degrees from prime meridian
Expressed in either decimal degrees or degrees, minutes and
seconds
2D3D

9. Few Important concepts…
Types of Maps
1. Reference (Base) maps
Provide basic geographic context requires to locate
other features
Use as back drops
Eg. District layer, Road layer, Water bodies
2. Thematic (Heat) maps
To showcase geographic data observations
Associated with story telling (eg. Places of dengue
cases, old aged people)
Use to formulate hypothesis
Introduction…

10. Related Technologies
•Remote Sensing
• Acquisition of information about an object or
phenomenon without making physical contact with the
object
• Satellite, Radar, etc.

11. Related Technologies…
•Global Positioning System(GPS)
• Is a space-based satellite navigation system that
provides location and time
• It should be Global Navigation Satellite System
(GNSS)
• GLONASS (By Russia), GALLILIO (By EU)

12. -ALBERT EINSTEIN
You don’t really
understand something
unless you can explain it
to your grandmother !

13. History
•Mid 19th century physician with a big
interest in public health
•He often made use of maps to illustrate
public health problems
•In September 1854 he became aware of
a cholera outbreak in the Soho district of
London(taken nearly six hundred lives )
•Dr. Snow began by mapping(hand drawn)
the incidence of the disease in the area
Dr.John Snow
(1813-1858)
• Snow could see that the cases occurred almost entirely
among those who lived near the Broad Street water
pump

14. History…
• In this map that cholera deaths were not
confined to the area around a cemetery of
plague

15. History…
•Snow recommended that the handle of sewage
contaminated water pump (from lower Themes river)be
removed, and this simple action stopped the outbreak
•Also proved his theory that cholera is transmitted
through contaminated drinking water(thus convinced
that the infection was not due to vapours coming from
Plague cemetery as they first thought)
•By using a map to examine the geographical (spatial)
locations of cholera cases in relation to other features
on the map (water pumps and cemetery of plague
victims), Snow has actually performed what is now
known as spatial analysis!

16. Applications
•Public Health and Research
• Epidemiology of Diseases (Forecasting, Surveillance)
• Risk Mapping, etc.
•Administration(Health Care Services)
• Resource Management (Spatial Inventories, etc)
• Decision Making
• Policy Making
•Other
• Environmental Health Management

17. Advantages
•Workflow and productivity improvement - ? in Health
•Build up a reference information base – GIS Health Layer
for Sri Lanka
•Efficiency Improvement
•Decision Making support
•Performance and account making support
•Generation of revenue
•Social Content

18. Basic Techniques
•System Life Cycle
GIS
System
Plan
Acquire Data
Document Data
Update Data
Preserve Data
Make Maps
Staff Training
Analyze Data
Distribute Data
Output

19. •Geometric Data Models
• Vector - Method of representing geographic features
by the basic graphical elements of points, lines and
polygon
• Raster- Tesselation of a surface (process to cover a
surface through the repeated use of a single shape i.e
pixel)
Basic Techniques…

20. Basic Techniques…
• Spatial Analysis
• Geographic science uses a wide range of
analytical techniques to take measurements,
make comparisons, and detect anomalies
• Techniques:
• Overlay
• Buffering
• Surface Analysis and Interpolation (i.e. Heat
maps)
• Cluster Detection

21. Basic Techniques…
•Overlay –
• The most basic spatial analysis method
• Put this on top of that and see what happens
•Buffering –
• Identifies areas of interest around a location based on
distance or time
• eg: Flight range of Dengue Mosquito
•Surface Analysis and Interpolation –
• When you have lots of individual observations and you
want to make an overall map that shows trends
(Interpolation is necessary to make estimates where you
have gaps in coverage)

22. Basic Techniques…
•Symbolization –
• Symbolization can emphasize a visual connection to a
real feature, or can be very abstract
• Symbols are used to graphically manipulate to explain
data such as points, lines and polygons
• Eg:
• Point symbols
• Proportional/Graduated Symbols
• Multivariate Symbols

23. Basic Techniques…
•Data Classifications
• Equal Interval
• Quintiles
• Natural Breaks
•Cluster Detection

24. Way Forward
•Health GIS layer for Sri Lanka
• Do we need it ?
• Need to initiate with proper planning and coordination
• Need to cover the all aspects
•GIS Coordination Unit at Central Level
• Decentralized units
• For effective Data Management (Collection, Store, Updating, etc)
•Proposed Sub Levels
• Preventive Health (Public Health) layer(s)
• Curative Health layer(s)
• Administrative layer(s)
• Other health related layer(s)

25. Conclusion
Introduction
Terms, Definition(s) and Concepts
Related Technologies
History
Applications and Advantages
Basic Techniques
Way Forward
Proposed GIS Health layer for Sri Lanka
Conclusion

26. Conclusion
GIS (in Health) is
An information system (Hardware, Software and
(Health) Data)
Which enables to apply lots of analysis models
To any geographical data sets
Generating derived information
Can be visualized as maps

27. Thank you
“Location of anything is becoming everything”