title: [Are geoprocessing, environment, and health a possible combination?]
abstract: The use of geoprocessing techniques allows one to gather socioeconomic, health, and environmental data on a spatial basis. However, interpretation of associations between epidemiological and environmental variables requires the geoprocessing system design. The study scale and object choices precede conception of the system, conditioning the possible statistical and visual results. This scale must be compatible with the phenomenon on which one intends to focus, aiming at internal homogeneity and external heterogeneity of spatial units. The interdependency of spatial processes, reflected in the spatial configuration of social, environmental, and epidemiological data distribution, affects interpretation of causes for simultaneous processes. Geoprocessing allows for knowledge of the context or situational surroundings in which the damage to health takes place.
authors.affiliation: Departamento de Informações para a Saúde, Centro de Informação em Ciência e Tecnologia, Fundação Oswaldo Cruz, Rio de Janeiro, RJ, 21045-900, Brasil.
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Barcellos
authors.initials: FI
authors.lastname: Bastos