Week 6

Part I Geocoding

Re: Hospital Locations

Very Soon-to-be Mothers Beware

Jacob Garson
104-332-321
Sacred Heart Medical Center Sheridan Memorial Hospital Holland Community Hospital St. David’s Medical Center
3333 Riverbend Drive 1401 West 5th Street 602 Michigan Avenue 919 E 32nd Street
Springfield, OR 97477 Sheridan, WY 82801 Holland, MI 49423 Austin, TX 78705
Bing Roads Bing Roads OpenStreetMap Bing Roads

Re: Hospital Locations

Geocoding discrepancies between Bing
Maps and MapQuest as exemplified by ten
hospital locations across the U.S.
Source: http://www.cms.gov

Oasis Hospital Central Health, Inc.

750 North 40th Street 1920 Altherholt Road
Phoenix, AZ 85008 Lynchburg, VA 24501
Bing Roads Bing Roads

Helen Keller Memorial Hospital
1300 South Montgomery Ave
Shefield, AL 35660
OpenStreetMap
University Hospitals SUNY
Health Science Center
750 East Adams Street
Syracuse, NY 32101
OpenStreetMap
Wellington Regional Medical
Center
10101 Forest Hill Boulevard
Wellington, FL 33414
OpenStreetMap
University of Maryland Medical
Center
22 South Greene Street
Baltimore, MD 21201
OpenStreetMap
 Analysis
Geocoding Error Potentialities
Geocoding is the process of geographically coding a location from an address to
longitudinal and latitudinal coordinates. It’s generally a charged service, but small sam-
ples can be geocoded for free and the precise locations of sites pinpointed. These pin-
points, however, can vary according to what set of data you are using. The variations are
generally not very significant, as in the examples given throughout this assignment, but
even these small variations, of a hundred feet or so, can have potential broader impacts.
The latitudes and longitudes of ten hospitals are given in the maps on the previous
page, the blue dots representing the data given by Bing Maps and the magenta dots for
MapQuest Data. As is clearly visible in each of the images, none of the ten hospital locations
maps up perfectly for each of the two data sets, though both are used for locating the hospi-
tals. These minute differences are apparent in the short distances between the dots, possi-
bly a result of variations in the choice of the main entrance for the locations or perhaps due
to error exclusively. The real world results of these discrepancies, if these coordinates were
to be employed in an ambulance’s GPS for example, could add unnecessary time to the
delivery of a patient. A driver following their GPS could potentially head to the wrong side
of the street for the delivery of a patient or a person needing emergency care. Even under
less time-sensitive circumstances, the small variations in location pin-pointing could also
potentially lead to the mis-delivering of packages or mail, or any number of services seeing
as address geocoding is used so widely in real estate, healthcare, marketing, retail, etc.
Source: https://moodle2.sscnet.ucla.edu/course/view/15W-GEOG7-1?section=12

Data Table

Source: http://www.cms.gov