GIS in Public Health

This article represents a quick presentation of what is possible with GIS (Geographic Information Systems) software.  We were pleased to provide some GIS content for Glencoe/McGraw-Hill publishing for three textbooks in 2008: World Geography and Cultures, Glencoe World History and The American Vision — all with a combined expected worldwide sales of 750,000 copies.

FINAL PROJECT (PowerPoint – Lesser Quality Images – 591kb):
A Quantitative View of New Jersey’s Essex County Civilian Non-Institutionalized Sensory Disabled

I
live in Jersey City, New Jersey in The Heights neighborhood near Christ
Hospital. I have always wondered who and what surrounds me from a
cultural, healthcare and economic point-of-view. Here are images of six
views I created. These images are large files because I want to show
the detail so if you have a slow internet connection it may take awhile
for the images to load. Click the Back button to return to this index
page after you view an image:

The Jersey City Christ Hospital Five Mile View Project
Christ Hospital (139kb)
Christ Hospital within a five mile ring (154kb)
Blacks living near Christ Hospital (158kb)
Blacks and Whites living near Christ Hospital (185kb)
Those Owning and Renting near Christ Hospital (196kb)
A 400% magnified view of Asians and Hispanics living near Christ Hospital (175kb)

The
entire project is over 20MB because you need all the supporting files
in order to view the project. If you are interested in seeing the
entire project, let me know, and we’ll see if we can find a way to get
you the file.

I started the project in 2004 to see how many Golf
courses were near Christ Hospital so I could try to make a correlation
between Golfing and not being able to find a doctor when you needed
one, but I was surprised to find out that in Jersey City at that time
– and actually all of Hudson County — there were no Golf courses (but there is one now) –
and another great wondering fell down the drain! If you zoom out from
the initial project view you will slowly begin to see a pattern of Golf
courses strategically sprouting beyond the urban base.