Sally Lai

HSCI 273
GIS Assignment
1)
A. What is GIS? What are three uses of GIS? How might GIS be used in
solutions to problems? GIS is a geographical information system that uses
computers and software to explore the fundamentals in geography. GIS is
used to manage, analyze, and inventory many aspects of the world. An
example of GIS would be if you turned on the light switch, GIS made sure that
there was electricity in your area. GIS can be used to show patterns in the
data, where you can ask when, where, and why to make better decisions.
2)
A. What examples did he use to demonstrate the use of GIS in health
decision making? What are the concerns about the data?
Some of the examples he used to demonstrate the use of GIS in health
decision making was to look at the continuous representation of a disease or
outcome, look for differences in populations, automate the data, and provide
a place context to help you create a map with data that is important. However,
some concerns about the data would be that if you are not careful when
choosing units of data a map can be too much data that or will not be
meaningful.
3)
A. Explain three examples listed in this presentation about the use of GIS in
public health.

The first example listed in this presentation was that GIS can be used to
effectively display data to get the point across, and it also can show how it the
country has changed over time.
4)
A. What is the most frequently occurring issue in this area (see the
Incident Layers to understand the iconsnot everything is crime
ATTENTION TO DETAIL)? The most frequently occurring issue in this area
is theft.
B. Why is this type of map useful in public and community health? This
type of map is useful, because it allows public and community health to know
and understand the type of behavior is going on in the community to help
make better decisions.
5)
A. What is the median household income? The median household income in
2012 was $40,910, 18% below the US average.
B. Why is this useful in public health/why do we need to use median
household income when we decide populations at risk or in need of
services? Using the median household income information to decide what
populations are at risk or in need of services is used for in public health
because it allows you to see the increase or decrease over time in the
population. It is also useful to use the median household income, because
public health can focus efforts on those populations with lower income and
use other data to determine what type of services are needed.
6)

C. Why would it be difficult to walk to the store? It would be difficult to walk to

the store, because of the busy intersections and cars that use these main streets.

D. What are the common ads on both markets? The common similarity

between both markets is that they advertise beer and wine instead of food.

E. What are the causes of those diseases from a social standpoint for
populations? How would you make the association between death by
ZIP code and the availability of food in 92411? From a social standpoint,
some of the causes of those diseases are a lack of access to stores that have
healthy foods and a lack of access to health care. For the fact that the only
store within walking distance of a few neighborhoods are only liquor stores or
fast food restaurants it would make it impossible for families to eat healthy in
the community. Between the death by zip code and the availability of food in
92411, the map above clearly shows that healthy food in this area is scarce
and hard to come by, which would make it hard for families who dont earn, or
are to busy to buy groceries, or dont have the means of transportation.
7)
A. What is your walk score? My walk score is 31.
B. Do you think your neighborhood is walkable meaning conducive to
walking? No I dont think my neighborhood is a walkable area.
C. Give examples to provide specifics to support your argument. One of the
reasons why my neighborhood is not a walkable area is because I live off a busy
main street and not safe are to walk with children. Another reason why is
because most errands require car transportation.