GIS and Public Health (GEOG 5190/6190) Course Syllabus Spring 2015 University of Utah Department of Geography Instructor: Neng Wan, Ph. D. Course Number: GEOG 5190/6190 Email: neng.wan@geog.utah.edu Time: TH 9:10am-10:30am Phone: 585-3972 Location: OSH 215 (T); OSH 277 (H) Office: OSH 270k Units: 3.0 Office hours: Wednesday 2:00-5:00 p.m. & by appointment Course Description This course covers applications of Geographic Information Systems (GIS) and remote sensing in public health and describes how these tools can be used to explore connections between people, their dynamic physical and social environments, and their health. The materials covered will provide an introduction to geographic methods, GIS tools and a unique framework from which to understand health outcomes and develop public health strategies to reduce disease and improve the public s health. More specifically it will provide an introduction to basic GIS concepts and an overview of the most common geographic methods utilized in public health and epidemiology for mapping and analyzing geographic variation in health events, health disparities, risk factors, and health services. Selected case studies will be presented in order to highlight principles, methods, and techniques. Hands on experience will be gained through laboratory exercises and real world applications. Laboratory exercises will be completed using ArcGIS. Other software programs such as SaTScan and GeoDa may also be used to address specific topics. Course Objectives Upon completion of this course students should be able to: 1. Understand how geographic and spatial methods contribute to the understanding of problems in environment, health, and healthcare 2. Locate, create, collect and manage geographic data for health and epidemiological research 3. Utilize basic GIS and spatial analysis functions for data processing 4. Understand how geographic methods and tools are utilized in public health practice 5. Geocode health data 6. Create disease maps (mapping risk, rates and smoothed maps) 7. Analyze health services using various geographic methods and models 8. Select appropriate geographic methods to solve specific health problems 9. Independently finish an investigation on a medical/health topic using geographic and spatial methods The course consists of lectures, laboratory exercises, and supplemental assignments. Course Materials Textbooks and related journal articles Cromley, E. K. & S. McLafferty. 2012. GIS and public health. New York: The Guilford Press.
Online Materials: This course utilizes Canvas (https://utah.instructure.com/) to provide access to course announcements, lecture notes, assignments, additional readings, and other materials related to the course. You must logon to Canvas using your university Network ID (unid). Grading Grading will be based on the following components: Type Percent Class participation 10% Lab exercises 30% (10 labs *3pts) Group and/or individual research project 40% Class tutorials 10% Final examination (take home) 10% COURSEWORK Reading Material Students are expected to have read the assigned readings prior to class (see Course Schedule) Final Examination There will be a take home final exam that covers theories and applications discussed in class, assignments, laboratory exercises, and assigned readings. The final exam will include short essay questions, interpretation of research findings (e.g., regression results) or policy, and problem solving questions. Laboratory Exercises Laboratory exercises are designed to help students become familiar with using GIS software and practical experience in utilizing spatial statistical methods. Ten laboratory exercises will be assigned throughout the semester. Each lab will consist of two parts. The first part will be a tutorial completed in class on Thursday and will need to be handed in before you leave to receive credit. The second part of each lab will ask each student to apply what he/she has learned during the tutorial. Students have one week to complete the second part of the lab exercises, and it s due at the beginning of class the following Thursday. All lab exercises must be turned in to the instructor to receive credit. All lab exercises must be submitted through Canvas. Research Projects The goal of group or individual research projects is to use geographic methods and mapping to better understand a major health issue for a defined community or subgroup. Projects must follow a traditional research outline and should include: 1) an introduction and literature review; 2) methods; 3) results; and, 4) discussion/conclusion. You may choose to work independently. Students with similar interests can work in groups on their final project (maximum of 3 students in a group). In the final project report, each student s contribution should be clearly noted. All group members are required to do a part of the project presentation. Research Project Evaluation Research projects will be evaluated on the following criteria:
One page project proposal explaining why you have chosen the disease or health issue and how your project is relevant for public health (Due 3/3). *You will also be required to briefly describe your project to the class. Progress report including a list of references (e.g., journal articles, book chapters, and websites) that will be reviewed and used to develop your project, summary of data source and methods to be employed, and a timeline of the work plan (Due 3/31) * You will also be required to briefly describe your project progress to the class. The date of class presentation of your project (15 minutes) will be determined later. Final Project Report summarizing the research project. The final project report should include: 1) an introduction explaining the objective/purpose of the project; 2) a summary of previous studies including objectives, types of data/methods utilized, and findings; 3) the data sources and methods; 4) results; and, 5) a discussion including limitations and knowledge gaps and future research needs pertaining to your topic (Due 5/6) Class tutorials Students will be required to present a brief tutorial on a GIS method or technique to the class two times during the semester. Tutorials will be presented to the class prior to Thursday s lab exercise. Tutorials are intended to enhance students understanding of the material covered in class. Tutorials can be completed using PowerPoint and/or GIS software and should only be 10 minutes long. Additional information about the format for the tutorial will be provided during lecture. Course Grading Scale Final letter grades will be assigned based on the scale below A 94% 100% C 74% 76.9% A 90% 93.9% C 70% 73.9% B+ 87% 89.9% D+ 67% 69.9% B 84% 86.9% D 64% 66.9% B 80% 83.9% D 60% 63.9% C+ 77% 79.9% E 0% 59.9% Course Policies Evaluation policies 1) Individual extra credit will not be assigned 2) An "incomplete" will be given only in extreme cases when conditions beyond the student's control require an extended period of absence. 3) Required course work is due on the dates specified on the schedule. Assignments presented to the instructor after the specified due date will be worth only half of the earned points. If there is a problem with meeting a deadline, speak with the instructor as soon as possible. 4) All assignments must be typed. Hand written assignments will not be accepted. Student Responsibilities: Academic Misconduct Academic misconduct will not be tolerated. Penalties may include failure of an assignment, the entire course, and/or the filing of formal charges with appropriate university authorities. Academic misconduct includes, but is not limited to, cheating, misrepresenting one s work, and plagiarism.
Cheating involves the unauthorized possession or use of information in an academic exercise, including unauthorized communication with another person during an exercise such as an examination. Misrepresenting one s work includes, but is not limited to, representing material prepared by another as one s own work or submitting the same work in more than one course without prior permission of all instructors. Plagiarism means the intentional unacknowledged use or incorporation of any other person s work in one s own work offered for academic consideration or public presentation. All violations of academic honesty will be handled according to University policy. Students should be familiar with the Code of Student Rights and Responsibilities at the following link: http://www.regulations.utah.edu/academics/6 400.html All students are expected to maintain professional behavior in the classroom setting, according to the Student Code, spelled out in the Student Handbook. Students have specific rights in the classroom as detailed in Article III of the Code. The Code also specifies proscribed conduct (Article XI) that involves cheating on tests, plagiarism, and/or collusion, as well as fraud, theft, etc. Students should read the Code carefully and know they are responsible for the content. Attendance Students are expected to attend all classes. Class Participation Students are expected to participate in all class discussions and exercises. Quizzes will be held occasionally at the start or end of class to ensure reading assignments were completed. Class Conduct No eating, talking, sleeping during the lectures No usage of cell phones Laptops can be used for taking notes and accessing course materials. Use of laptops during lecture to check emails or to conduct non course related tasks is strictly prohibited. Please be respectful of your colleagues and instructor and respect the right of all to speak and do not interrupt. Discussion threads, e mails, and chat rooms are all considered to be equivalent to classrooms, and student behavior within those environments shall conform to the Student Code. Disabilities The University of Utah seeks to provide equal access to its programs, services and activities for people with disabilities. If you will need accommodations in the class, reasonable prior notice needs to be given to the Center for Disability Services, 162 Union Building, 581 5020 (V/TDD). CDS will work with you and the instructor to make arrangements for accommodations. (www.hr.utah.edu/oeo/ada/guide/faculty/) **Note: The syllabus is not a binding legal contract. It may be modified by the instructor when the student is given reasonable notice of the modification. Tentative Schedule This is a tentative outline of when various topics will be covered and assignments due. Week Date Tuesday Lecture Date Thursday Lab Session Readings/due dates 1 1/13 Overview of Course 1/15 Intro to GIS & Public Chap 1 Health 2 1/20 Spatial Data (Raster vs. 1/22 Getting to know GIS I Introduction,
Vector) Chap 2, Rushton article 3 1/27 Spatial data for public 1/29 Getting to know GIS II Chap 3 health 4 2/3 Geocoding and Data 2/5 Getting to know GIS III Chap 3; Oliver paper collection with GPS (Geocoding) 5 2/10 Census, Health GIS data, spatial operations 2/12 Health GIS Data, GIS Spatial Operations Chap 4 6 2/17 Calculating rates, data aggregation, small numbers 7 2/24 Point Pattern Analysis of Health Data 8 3/3 Clustering of Health Events 2/19 Health Data mapping, aggregation, rates 2/26 Point Pattern Analysis Chap 5 3/5 Cluster Detection Chap 5 Final project proposal description 9 3/10 Environmental exposure 3/12 Spatial Interpolation, Geostatistics, Creating Census based and environmental measures 10 3/17 SPRING BREAK 3/19 SPRING BREAK 11 3/24 Access to Health 3/26 Geographic Services Accessibility 12 3/31 Regression Models for Health Data; Health Disparities 13 4/7 Remote Sensing and Health Applications Measures 4/2 Spatial and aspatial regression models 4/9 Remote Sensing Introduction Chap 6 Maantay, and Shavers articles Chap 9 Guagliardo, Klein, and Shi articles Chap 11 Final project progress report due Chap 8; Ward paper; Rogers paper 14 4/14 Disease diffusion in space 4/16 Class Presentations Chap 7; Bian 2013 15 4/21 Mobile Health 4/23 TBD Richardson paper; Kerr paper; Schenk paper 16 4/28 Classes End Final project report due on 5/6 Additional Required Readings Week 2 Rushton, G. (2003). "Public health, GIS, and spatial analytic tools." Annu Rev Public Health 24: 43-56. Week 4 Oliver, M. N., K. A. Matthews, et al. (2005). "Geographic bias related to geocoding in epidemiologic studies." Int J Health Geogr 4: 29. Week 9
Maantay, J. (2007). "Asthma and air pollution in the Bronx: methodological and data considerations in using GIS for environmental justice and health research." Health Place 13(1): 32 56. Shavers, V. L. (2007). "Measurement of socioeconomic status in health disparities research." J Natl Med Assoc 99(9): 1013 23. Week 11 Guagliardo, M. F. (2004). "Spatial accessibility of primary care: concepts, methods and challenges." Int J Health Geogr 3(1): 3. Klein, M. B., C. B. Kramer, et al. (2009). "Geographic access to burn center hospitals." JAMA 302(16): 1774 1781. Shi, et al. (2012). "Spatial Access and Local Demand for Major Cancer Care Facilities in the United States." Annals of AAG 102(5): 1125-1134. Week 13 Ward et al. (2000). Identifying populations potentially exposed to agricultural pesticides using remote sensing and a geographic information system. Environmental Health Perspective. 108: 5-12. Rogers et al. (2002). Satellite imagery in the study and forecast of malaria. Nature. 415: 710-715. Week 14 Bian, L. 2013. Spatial approaches to modeling dispersion of communicable diseases-a review. Transactions in GIS 17(1): 1-17. Week 15 Richardson et al. (2013). Spatial turn in health research. Science 339: 1390-1392 Schenk et al. (2011). Cellular telephones measure activity and lifespace in community-dwelling adults: proof of principle. JAGS 59(2):345-52 Kerr et al. (2011). Using GPS in health research: a practical approach to data collection and processing. American Journal of Preventive Medicine 41(5): 532-540. Suggested Data Sources CDC National Center for Health Stats: http://www.cdc.gov/nchs/default.htm CDC Wonder: http://wonder.cdc.gov/ WHO (a starting point for global data): http://www.who.int/research/en/ EPA Geospatial Data: http://www.epa.gov/nsdi/ Census: http://factfinder2.census.gov/faces/nav/jsf/pages/searchresults.xhtml?refresh=t (ESRI compatible formats can be downloaded from within ArcGIS Arcmap) Remote Sensing based data: http://edc.usgs.gov Climate Data: http://www.ncdc.noaa.gov/oa/ncdc.html USGS water data: http://water.usgs.gov/index.html USGS Geoscience data: http://geo nsdi.er.usgs.gov/