title: The use of mapping in public health and planning health services.
abstract: The availability of relatively inexpensive, user-friendly geographical information systems, with a steadily extending range of analytic and other facilities, provides a powerful tool for the analysis and display of the increasing number of health-related data sets, and for their greater accessibility. Relationships between several sets of variables can become immediately apparent from a map in a way that is much more difficult to comprehend from a table or description. It is also easy to define ad hoc areas, such as the area adjacent to a possible toxic point source or to a main road, in terms of unit postcodes and Census output areas, to determine standardized rates for mortality and hospital admissions. Apart from the geographical information system itself, the basic requirements are access to relevant data sets including Census data, and to the central postcode directory, which provides grid references for unit postcodes and permits matching of postcoded health events to Census output areas.
authors.affiliation: Health Information Unit, Greater Glasgow Health Board.
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Gordon
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Womersley
mesh_terms: D002391:Catchment Area, Health; D019352:Censuses; D005843:Geography; D006285:Health Planning / Q000458:organization & administration*; D006301:Health Services Needs and Demand; D006305:Health Status Indicators; D006801:Humans; D007256:Information Systems; D008377:Maps as Topic; D011157:Population Dynamics; D011635:Public Health Administration; D012111:Residence Characteristics; D012606:Scotland / Q000453:epidemiology; D012959:Socioeconomic Factors