GIS Software for Public Health, Disease Mapping, and Epidemiology

FIGURE 1: Assess adjacency and create maps such as this showing Nth order adjacencies of ZIP Codes in Colorado. (Click the map to enlarge)   FIGURE 2: Visualize density of point locations. (Click the map to enlarge)   FIGURE 3: Site analyses can be performed using the included Census data. This map and table show the demographics of the population within five miles of several locations. (Click the map to enlarge) FIGURE 4: Find geographic patterns in your data. (Click the map to enlarge)

Maptitude is utilized in the fields of epidemiology, public health, statistics, geography, and planning. Richard E. Hoskins of the Washington State Department of Health says this of using Maptitude as a disease mapping and public health GIS:

“I teach GIS and public health classes at the University of Washington, I have also taught short courses using other GIS software. I have settled on Maptitude for four reasons.

First, Maptitude allows for the generation of the adjacency matrix that is key to doing any spatial statistical analysis. The Maptitude Area Adjacency add-in provides several methods for querying the neighbors of an area or selected areas. You can select one or more areas in a layer to determine the neighbors of your area of interest. You can then produce statistics on the neighbors, create adjacency tables of the Nth order neighbors, and create adjacency tables of the distance between the centroids of the selected areas and their Nth order neighbors. The tables are saved to files for further analysis or for export and/or use in other statistical packages. In this way, you can query the neighbors of areas in an interactive and visual environment to determine patterns and topological adjacency.

Second is functionality. Maptitude has extensive functionality including labeled selection sets, a powerful spatial query scheme, area overlay, database capabilities, 3D mapping, and route selection. Maptitude reads and converts many different GIS formats which are simply not available in other GIS packages without spending a lot of extra money. You can also utilize external data from the Internet, convert to any projection/coordinate system, and make superb maps.

Third, Maptitude has a significantly flatter learning curve than other GIS packages I have worked with. Investigators can come back to Maptitude two weeks later and remember what they need to know to pursue a solution to their problem. GIS is not simple but Caliper seems to be trying to make it as available to ordinary human beings as possible. Maptitude satisfies the casual user, such as a public health practitioner or a spatial statistician, as well as the fully qualified GIS technician.

Investigators who are juggling database programs, statistical packages, the operating system, not to mention the scientific issues of a project, need as little hassle from their GIS as possible. I think Maptitude gets pretty close to this ideal.

Fourth is cost. You get a fully functional GIS and extensive data for 1/3 the price of other GIS products, or your statistical package. Most graphics packages cost more than Maptitude."

Richard E. Hoskins, WA State Dept of Health, PO Box 47855, Olympia, WA 98504, (360) 236-3793. (Richard Hoskins uses several other spatial analysis and GIS systems in addition to Maptitude. He has no financial interest in Caliper Corporation.)

Maptitude can be harnessed for modeling, data collection, data analysis, and specialized applications. Most importantly, the adjacency toolbox provides powerful tools not matched or provided in other GIS systems.

In all cases, Maptitude is the cost-effective solution that utilizes demographics, geographic data, and sophisticated spatial analysis tools as powerful methods with which to convey information and to analyze epidemiological and public health data.

The Spatial Adjacency Toolbox comes with Maptitude ($495) at no additional cost. Contact sales@caliper.com for more information.

Click HERE for more information on Maptitude. 

Case Study:
"Distance from Home When Death Occurs: A Population-Based Study of Washington State" from Pediatrics: Official Journal of the American Academy of Pediatrics (Vol. 117 No. 5 May 2006)