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GIS and the Future of Public Health

Mark Altaweel | July 15, 2020 | GIS Industry

The COVID-19 pandemic highlights the importance of GIS and spatial analysis to public
health. We have seen a variety of analyses and use of spatial platforms to monitor and
assess how to address the viral pandemic. However, what this crisis highlights are the
needs and deficiencies in how GIS is used in public health and where GIS and public
health will be in the future.

Trends in public health and GIS started before the COVID-19 pandemic, although the
current crisis may catalyze some change to happen faster. For instance, perhaps the
greatest contribution that GIS will likely make in public health is a better optimization of
care. We can think of hospitals and health workers as supply, while patients are demand.
The COVID-19 crisis has shown imbalances between the two has led to a variety of crises,
with some areas having more health workers and medical supplies than patients and
other regions having vast demand for care and inadequate provisioning. Hospitals and
healthcare providers will likely need to increasingly use online and real-time GIS
monitoring of communities that forecast spatial change in how communicable diseases
may spread.[1] Forecasting that looks at infection rates, analyzes vulnerable populations in
an area, and then provides a probability of spread of an infection could provide a way for
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care workers to anticipate where health needs are likely to be. Such tools are, of course,
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For instance, the National Health Service (NHS) in the UK has applied a tool, HealthGIS, to
provide forecasting capabilities of healthcare needs. This tool can provide forecasting
capabilities but the speed of data capture may need to improve to allow more rapid
response to changes in public health.[2]

Isochrone map showing walk times to local pharmacies. Source: HealthGIS, NHS, UK.

There are, of course, lessons learned that have helped the next generation of tools to be
thought about based on needs. For one, it is clear that spatiotemporal modeling and
analysis will be critical to the healthcare system, allowing real-time tracking of infections
and forecasting. A second need is also to allow systems to be interactive and enable data
sharing. This may require healthcare facilities to use cloud-based GIS systems, rather than
only tools made specifically for their institutions, as the sharing of data that allows real-
time interaction to occur is critical to enable healthcare workers to better plan across
multiple regions and coordinate activities. Tools that apply GIS-based Multicriteria
Evaluation (GME), as an example, is a likely direction for platform application to address
this need.[3] In India, researchers have called for the healthcare system there to develop a
national GIS database for health data, which is particularly important during a pandemic
[4]
when national-level coordination is so critical
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Using GIS for healthcare takes us back to the origins of spatial analysis, such as John
Snow’s famous use of spatial mapping and analysis in 1854 to map the source of cholera
in London’s urban water infrastructure. Researchers have also called for particular focus by
the GIS and healthcare communities to create coordinated GIS databases that are not
only relevant for one country but multiple countries in particularly vulnerable regions such
as sub-Sahara Africa. Researchers have taken a first step in assembling data for healthcare
facilities across sub-Sahara Africa, but efforts will need to go much further so that real-
time data sharing and monitoring are even possible.[5]

GIS will certainly be critical to healthcare in the future. The question is how do countries
and regions begin to develop systems that can better prepare us not only for the next
pandemic but also for other public health events or crises. Some regions and countries,
such as in the UK, have made good efforts towards this through a developed GIS system
at a national level, but other countries and regions, such as India and in sub-Sahara Africa,
far more effort is needed. What is clear is coordination, data sharing, and real-time data
provisioning and forecasting will be critical for health professionals to better deal with
major crises. 

References
[1]    For more on future forecasting needs using GIS for public healthcare, see:  Wang, F.
(2020). Why public health needs GIS: a methodological overview. Annals of GIS, 26(1), 1–
12. https://doi.org/10.1080/19475683.2019.1702099.

[2]    For more on the NHS and its use of a GIS forecasting tool,
see:  https://www.healthgis.nhs.uk/.
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[3]    For more on how GIS systems could change and evolve

OpenLM for healthcare providers,
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including the use of GME-based tools, see:  Jelokhani-Niaraki, M. (2020). Collaborative

spatial multicriteria evaluation: a review and directions for future research. International
Journal of Geographical Information Science, 1–
34. https://doi.org/10.1080/13658816.2020.1776870.

[4]    For more on national-level needs for a coordinate GIS database in India, see: Ranga,
V., Pani, P., Kanga, S., Meraj, G., Farooq, M., Nathawat, M. S., & Kumar Singh, S.
(2020). National Health-GIS Portal-A Conceptual Framework for Effective Epidemic
Management and Control in India(preprint). MEDICINE & PHARMACOLOGY.
https://doi.org/10.20944/preprints202006.0325.v1.

[5]    For more on an effort to coordinate heathcare across sub-Sahara Africa, see:  Maina,

J., Ouma, P. O., Macharia, P. M., Alegana, V. A., Mitto, B., Fall, I. S., et al. (2019). A spatial
database of health facilities managed by the public health sector in sub Saharan
Africa. Scientific Data, 6(1), 134. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41597-019-0142-2

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