Mapping health on the internet: a new tool for environmental justice and public health research.

Full Abstract

This paper examines the prospects for integrating Internet platform GIS or 'web-GIS' into environmental justice and related public health research. Specifically, we document the development of a web-GIS created for investigating relationships between health, air quality and socioeconomic factors in Hamilton, Canada. After development of the web-GIS site, we assembled a focus group of public health professionals to test functionality and render opinions about the potential of the site and geographic information in their program implementation. Results show overwhelming support for the further integration of GIS into public health practice. The results also underscore the potential of web-GIS to alleviate concerns of cost and data availability that often limit the use of GIS in community debates centred on environmental justice issues.

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Author information

Author/s: Maclachlan, John C (JC); Jerrett, Michael (M); Abernathy, Tom (T); Sears, Malcolm (M); Bunch, Martin J (MJ);

Affiliation: McMaster University, School of Geography and Earth Sciences, Hamilton, Ont, Canada. maclacjc(-atsign-)mcmcaster.ca

Journal and publication information

Publication Type: Journal Article; Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

Journal: Health & place (Health Place), published in England. (Language: eng)

Reference: 2007-Mar; vol 13 (issue 1) : pp 72-86

Dates: Created 2006/11/20; Completed 2007/05/02;

PMID: 16527510, status: MEDLINE (last retrieval date: 12/26/2008)

Sourced from the National Library of Medicine. Abstract text and other information may be subject to copyright.

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MeSH headings (categories)

This article was linked to the MESH Headings shown below.

Air Pollution - adverse effects; analysis; economics
Asthma - epidemiology; etiology
Cluster Analysis
Environmental Health - economics; ethics; instrumentation
Epidemiologic Research Design
Focus Groups
Geographic Information Systems

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