Geospatial Analysis Using Environmental Health Data

This chapter instructs readers on how to perform various types of geospatial analysis using Environmental Health Data. We discuss the importance of geospatial analysis and visualizing results via maps versus as a flat list. We also describe the different types of analysis, including point-based analysis using latitude and longitude coordinates for individual patients and the advantages and disadvantages of this approach. We also describe constructing heatmap grids of latitude and longitude coordinates to protect patient privacy as it obfuscates the individual points from the visualization. We also introduce the use of the Centers for Disease Prevention and Control (CDC) PLACES dataset for use in geospatial analyses of health information. We cover how to make maps at the census-tract level for individual counties and states within the United States of America (USA). We also describe how to make county-level and state-level maps where information is aggregated to those higher-levels of geospatial granularity. The importance of these visualizations for public health officials and researchers is also discussed. We also cover how racial disparities between African American communities and Whites are often manifested in different exposures of environmental contaminants observed between these communities. We discuss some of the underlying factors that lead to these issues, including income inequalities and other factors. After reading this chapter, you should be able to confidently answer the following questions: