GIS Help Desk Now Available in the Kresge Building at HSPH
Got data? Learn how to maximize its power by using geographic information systems (GIS), suggests Wendy Guan, director of GIS Research Services for a new Harvard-based Center for Geographical Analysis (CGA) in Cambridge.
GIS is an interactive and dynamic way to link datasets that are connected by location. For example, HSPH researchers have used the technology to incorporate data on traffic, railroads, and bus routes in Boston's Dudley Square into a geographic information system. The results created an image that represents traffic density. Environmental monitoring was done in these locations to investigate the impact of local traffic sources and to support the use of GIS-derived estimates of air pollution exposures in health studies.
Founded in 2006, the Center for Geographical Analysis is the cornerstone of the University's current effort to coordinate Harvard-wide usage of the many valuable data collections found at HSPH, the Harvard Geospatial Library, Map Library, Harvard-MIT Data Center, and other locations. The Center is headed by Peter Bol, Charles H. Carswell Professor of East Asian Languages and Civilizations in the Faculty of Arts and Sciences.
Recently, GIS support staff launched weekly visits to HSPH to help those who have discovered the value of the spatial analysis software. Assistance is available at the new GIS Help Desk in the Lower Level of the Kresge Building at the Instructional Computing Facility Microlab on Mondays, 1:30 p.m. to 4 p.m. GIS specialist Anders Hopperstead helps students and faculty organize their data, convert it from different formats, and create, edit, analyze, or learn how to present data within a variety of parameters. For more, visit the HSPH GIS homepage.
"Public health students show a lot of determination to perform GIS analysis," Hopperstead noted, referring to the steady stream of students and faculty who have taken advantage of his Help Desk services. To reach Hopperstead, email ahopperstead@cga.harvard.edu.
"It takes some time to get the hang of GIS, and you need to have patience," Hopperstead added, "but I can help people navigate through Help tools, or learn some new tricks on manipulating or working with data."
Added Guan, "GIS is the tool that helps you organize data, record the location component, and link it to other tabular information in business, environmental studies, public health, or any area of study. It can help you find out what happened at a particular location, what happened next to it, before or after a particular point in time, and how things [such as disease or toxic materials] spread."
Howard P. Fisher Prize in GIS
HSPH students are invited to apply for the Howard P. Fisher Prize in GIS, which is awarded every year to one undergraduate and one graduate student.
The entry deadline is May 17.
Information is available at
the prize homepage.
Geographic information system tools are valuable not only in epidemiology, population studies, and health management research, but in many fields of study, she said. As an added benefit, public health professionals with good GIS skills are well positioned for career possibilities that did not exist even a few years ago.
"There's a real demand for people with both public health and GIS training," according to Nathan Heard, MS 03, and current candidate for a DS in population and international health. While studying for his masters, Heard found it useful to visualize spatial relationships in research related to access to health resources. That's why he got interested in GIS.
"Everything happens somewhere," he explained. "When I was at HSPH, intuition told me people who lived in areas with scarce health resources would be less likely to use reproductive and family planning services than those living close to services."
With GIS, Heard first plotted the location of health facilities in Malawi offering family planning. Then he added information on where people lived and how they used contraceptive resources. By combining these data on a visual platform, he ended up with entirely new information that was impossible to glean from original datasets.
"GIS produces far more than just a map," Heard said. "There's a database underneath it, and that information is far more precise than anything you would get with just a graphic estimating how far it is from one place to another."
Today, Heard applies his skills in the Office of the U.S. Global AIDS Coordinator for the President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief at the U.S. Department of State. The former English teacher says a person doesn't have to be "super technical" to master GIS. It's something you can learn by doing, he says, as long as you start with good or basic database skills.
Heard was introduced to GIS at HSPH through a tutorial conducted by Robert Rose of the Harvard Map Collection. For the last year and a half, Rose has been spreading the word about GIS, giving lectures and workshops at many sites on the Harvard campus. So far, 300 people have taken his free workshop, which requires a reservation but no special materials.
Those who don't have two hours to spend at Rose's lectures may take an online tutorial. An iPod version will be available in the next few weeks, Rose said.
There are at least six full-semester GIS courses taught at Harvard, including two based in HSPH: PIH290-01 GIS and Health Planning: Facilitating Use of Geographical Data in Public Health and BIO284 Spatial Statistics for Health Research.
—PHC
Copyright, 2009, President and Fellows of Harvard College
