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Map from "Geographic Analysis of Childhood Lead Exposure." See Proceedings on this website.
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Planning Committee

Conference Sponsors

Distinguished Speakers

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Topic

Poster Presentations

Preconference Workshops

   

Public Health Activities of Conference Sponsors

Conference SponsorThe Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry (ATSDR) has used GIS to protect the health of persons living near hazardous waste sites and to identify areas of potential concern resulting from the accidental release of chemicals in the environment. Demographic analyses are routinely conducted to determine the number of persons living within one mile of a hazardous waste site, and analysis of age, sex, and race population statistics assists in the identification of persons with potentially enhanced susceptibility to the effects of hazardous substances based on ethnicity, age, or socioeconomic status. ATSDR also uses GIS to determine past and future exposure potential, analyze health data, and investigate potential exposure to hazardous substances at the local, regional, and national scale.

Conference SponsorThe Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) is the nation's prevention agency dedicated to the promotion of health and quality of life through the prevention and control of disease, injury, and disability. CDC has offices across the United States and around the world conducting research to reduce human disease to improve human health. The uses of GIS technology and GIS-based surveillance activities at CDC have grown steadily over the last decade. These activities range from the active surveillance of acute and infectious diseases to the development and maintenance of georeferenced national health databases at CDC headquarters in Atlanta, Georgia and in Hyattsville, Maryland. Researchers at CDC are currently using GIS, global positioning systems (GPS), and remote sensing technologies for work on malaria, neurocysticercosis, Chagas Disease, onchocerciasis, Guinea Worm, plague, dengue, arboviral encephalitis, and Rift Valley fever. Other projects include research on Lyme disease, environmental risks of childhood lead exposures, occupational health and related injuries, and many other investigations to protect public health. GIS is responsible for a new era in epidemiologic exploration and discovery at CDC, especially as US state and local health departments continue to become GIS empowered. GIS, and the science of GIS, is advancing the mission of CDC to protect public health.

Conference SponsorThe US Census Bureau is the nation’s lead statistical agency and a primary producer and user of both geographic and statistical data. The Census Bureau collects, tabulates, and disseminates most of the social and economic statistics that provide the framework for the fair distribution of legislative representation and federal funds and serves as the basis for effective policy decisions and business plans. Importantly for users of geographic information systems technology, all of the Census Bureau's extensive demographic, economic, and social data sets are linked to one of the nation's largest digital geographic databases. The Census Bureau's TIGER® database enables the automated integration of census data for all legal and spatial statistical entities in the US and its territories.

The Census Bureau offers public health decision-makers an extensive array of statistical and geographic resources useful for GIS analysis at all levels of geography from the census block to the Nation. Health professionals can use the address matching and geocoding capabilities of GIS software to link non-census health and environmental databases with census geography and statistics. Ongoing developments at the Census Bureau to continually update and maintain an integrated Master Address File and the TIGER® database for Census 2000 should promote even greater use and reliability of TIGER for GIS spatial and statistical analysis in the US public health community. Access to the many Census Bureau resources (http://www.census.gov) is being further enhanced for Census 2000 through its Data Access and Dissemination System. TIGER/Line® files, census boundary files, and Landview software are only a few of the many geographic products available that can support the needs of the public health community. The Census Bureau welcomes the opportunity to make the public health community aware of its vast, publicly available statistical and geographic resources and promote collaboration on vital areas of national and local concern with partners in the health and environmental disciplines.

Conference SponsorThe U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) makes extensive use of GIS to support a wide variety of agency activities, including risk assessment, environmental justice analyses, and ecological assessments. Environmental information is inherently geographic in nature, and virtually all environmental assessments require the location of a contaminant source or other environmental stressor and the estimation of levels of exposures, and resultant impacts, to humans and/or other species. Examples of spatially referenced features used in environmental assessments include identifying point sources of pollution such as industries and power generating facilities; identifying area sources of pollution such as highways and septic tank fields; and locating monitoring wells and other types of air and water sampling sites. Other examples of location-based environmental data developed or used by EPA include the delineation of wetlands and other sensitive habitats; detecting contaminant transport through the air, soil, or ground and surface water; locating underground storage tanks and hazardous waste sites; and locating and delineating areas inhabited by people. These and other geographic features of interest can be depicted on maps and used in GIS-based analyses to identify areas of environmental concern. They can also be used to evaluate their spatial relationship to populations of humans and other species and to habitats of interest.

Conference SponsorThe U. S. Geological Survey (USGS) provides the nation with reliable, impartial information to describe and understand the earth. This information is used to minimize the loss of life and property from natural disasters; manage water, biological, energy, and mineral resources; enhance and protect the quality of life; and contribute to wise economic and physical development. To collect this information, the USGS uses a wide variety of ground, aerial, and space-borne sensors as well as geographic information systems technology to combine and analyze disparate data sets in a common geographic framework. USGS operates national networks of water gauging and quality stations, seismic stations, and other monitoring equipment. USGS maintains the largest civilian archive of aerial photographs and satellite images and processes and distributes digital imagery from NOAA, NASA, and military satellites. Drawing on its knowledge of the physical environment and using the methods of geographic analysis, the USGS seeks to increase the level of understanding of the environmental contributions to diseases and to identify chronic health issues that may relate directly to earth processes and the environment. USGS wants to assess outbreaks of waterborne and water-related pathogens and environmental contaminants that adversely affect human health; and determine the occurrence, distribution, and transport of substances that may impact human health through direct exposure or bioaccumulation in the food chain. USGS welcomes the opportunity to collaborate with partners in the health disciplines to increase our scientific understanding of the relationships between the environment and public health.

American Public Health Association The American Public Health Association (APHA) is the oldest and largest organization of public health professionals in the world, representing more than 50,000 members from over 50 occupations of public health. APHA is concerned with a broad set of issues affecting personal and environmental health, including federal and state funding for health programs, pollution control, programs and policies related to chronic and infectious diseases, a smoke-free society by the year 2000, and professional education in public health. As a part of its annual meetings, APHA has developed hands-on workshops and conference sessions on the use of GIS in public health surveillance and to protect public health. APHA actively serves the public, its members, and the public health profession through its scientific and practice programs, publications, annual meeting, and advocacy efforts.

Conference SponsorThe American Society of Civil Engineers serves the civil engineering community and society at large through education, publications, and other opportunities to advance the science and practice of civil engineering. In particular, the Environmental Engineering Division, ASCE, is promoting innovative means of looking at and solving complex environmental issues. One of the most difficult and time consuming tasks in environmental public health engineering is that of estimating or obtaining exposure information. The use of Geographic Information System (GIS) technology provides opportunities to study the spatial distribution of environmental exposures. Because GIS can be used to combine and overlay data from a variety of sources, data from existing databases, exposure models, and population information from the census can be shown together to give an accurate estimate of where people are exposed and how much they are exposed. ASCE has recognized how valuable a tool a GIS can be to the environmental engineer. In fact, the June 1998, ASCE National Conference on Environmental Engineering Conference, will highlight two sessions of technical papers devoted to the topic of GIS in environmental public health engineering.

Conference SponsorThe Association of State and Territorial Health Officials (ASTHO) is organized as a 501 (c)3 non-profit association that represents the public health agencies of each of the U.S. states and territories. ASTHO is engaged in a wide range of legislative, scientific, educational, and programmatic issues and activities on behalf of public health. Information exchange and training in GIS through partnerships with agencies like ATSDR make it possible for health professionals to keep informed on technologies to protect public health.

Conference SponsorThe faculty and staff associated with the Geomatics Engineering Program at California State University, Fresno (Fresno State) have established an extensive record in the GIS research and services area. Fresno State's Geomatics Research Center, a part of Fresno State's Engineering and Computer Science Research Institute, has provided the facilitative environment for projects related to solid and hazardous waste site mapping and cleanup. Other active research programs include ground water quality mapping, resolving property boundary problems for the California Department of Parks and Recreation, and creating systems of geodetic ground control points for local and state agencies who then use the control points to generate their own GIS databases.

Fresno State's Geomatics Research Center continues to provide leadership in advancing the technology in the GIS area through on-going research for the California Department of Transportation that is developing real time mapping systems and advancing the use of digital imaging. This work is revolutionizing the way in which GIS data are being created and used.

Conference SponsorThe National Association of County and City Health Officials (NACCHO) is the national voice of local health officials and is dedicated to improving and protecting the public's health by increasing the capacity of local health departments (LHDs) to fulfill the core function of public health: assessment, policy development and assurance. NACCHO serves all of the 2,932 LHDs nationwide; this includes county, city, and district health departments. NACCHO's work focuses on providing education, training and technical assistance aimed at ensuring the public's health – GIS is one tool that is used in fulfilling this role. In addition, NACCHO serves as a communication vehicle among local, state and federal public health and environmental health agencies, allowing NACCHO to promote GIS and share successes.

Although NACCHO has identified a number of local health departments involved in integrating public health prevention programs and GIS applications, few local health departments have brought the two tools together. NACCHO believes that an important first step is to ensure all of our members have a basic understanding of GIS and the opportunities it offers. For many LHDs, NACCHO's activities may be their first introduction to GIS concepts. Because public health professionals are not actively involved in the design and application of local GIS systems used by other agencies, public health prevention implications are often not adequately considered in such areas as land-use planning, zoning decisions, and environmental compliance activities.

Currently, NACCHO is increasing local health department awareness and understanding of the potential uses of GIS though the pollution prevention project by highlighting uses of GIS applications to stimulate the integration of pollution prevention practices into local public health programs. In addition, NACCHO is exploring integration of GIS into other projects, such as the community environmental health assessment project.

Conference SponsorThe National Association of Local Boards of Health (NALBOH) was formed in 1992 to provide a national voice for the concerns of local boards of health and to assist local boards of health in obtaining the knowledge, skills, and abilities necessary to protect and promote public health in their communities. NALBOH recognized that this lack of information was hampering its ability to effectively accomplish its mission. Through education and outreach, NALBOH serves to disseminate information on research and evaluation tools like GIS to local health boards, which can enable health professionals to more effectively serve their communities.

Conference SponsorThe National Center for Geographic Information and Analysis (NCGIA) is a consortium comprised of the University of California at Santa Barbara, the State University of New York at Buffalo, and the University of Maine, with funding from the National Science Foundation. Researchers affiliated with the NCGIA at University of California Santa Barbara, conduct basic research in geographic analysis using GIS. Completed and current research initiatives include: accuracy of spatial databases; languages of spatial relations; multiple representations; use and value of geographic information; large spatial databases; spatial decision support systems; visualization of spatial data quality; formalizing cartographic knowledge; institutions sharing geographic information; spatio-temporal reasoning in GIS; integration of remote sensing and GIS; user interfaces for GIS; GIS and spatial analysis; multiple roles for GIS in US global change research; law, information policy and spatial databases; and collaborative spatial decision-making.

NCGIA has also has completed several major GIS education projects. The NCGIA Core Curriculum in GIS, a 3 volume set of lecture notes, was the result of a two-year collaborative project between GIS educators in North America, the United Kingdom and Australia. It has now been translated into 8 languages and is in use worldwide. Recently, the Center has been supporting a Secondary Education Project which seeks to help teachers teach about and with GIS. Because of NCGIA's continued success in providing educational opportunities for career professionals in GIS, NCGIA will conduct two preconference workshops at this year's conference.

GIS in Public Health Conference Local Host

Conference HostAs the local host for the GIS in Public Health conference, San Diego State University (SDSU) offers one of the premier GIS/remote sensing programs in the United States. GIS activity at SDSU is largely housed in the Department of Geography's Center for Earth Systems Analysis Research (CESAR). CESAR specializes in applying state-of-the-art technology in image processing, remote sensing, GIS, automated cartography, and numerical modeling to problems with a spatial dimension. Research conducted by a core of six faculty, four full-time staff members, and thirty-five Masters and Ph.D. research assistants is directed at both applied and fundamental problems in fields ranging from biophysical remote sensing to environmental planning, including spatial statistics in epidemiology and environmental analysis. Recent projects have focused on environmental problem solving along the United States/Mexico border with emphasis on the San Diego - Tijuana interface. Researchers in the Geography Department, the Graduate School of Public Health, and Mexican universities are collaborating on a variety of GIS projects, including an examination of the impact of wastewater flows on human and environmental health and modeling industrial air pollutant emissions and environmental risk in Tijuana. With El Colegio de la Frontera Norte, a GIS is being used for education and research in the Tijuana River Watershed. Also, the Graduate School of Public Health is working with the Autonomous University of Baja California to model the interactions of land use precipitation and hydrologic processes in the Tijuana River Watershed via a basin-wide watershed approach to better understand the spatial and temporal nature of stormwater quality. For this project the researchers are using GIS-based modeling to explore, display and analyze the spatial dimension of such interactions, and to identify the major sources of toxic loading in the watershed for future planning and control efforts. Many of these projects have been supported by monies provided by the Southwest Center for Environmental Research and Policy and the Environmental Protection Agency via SDSU's Institute for Regional Studies of the Californias.