title: Geocoding health data with Geographic Information Systems: a pilot study in northeast Italy for developing a standardized data-acquiring format.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Geographic Information Systems (GIS) have become an innovative and somewhat crucial tool for analyzing relationships between public health data and environment. This study, though focusing on a Local Health Unit of northeastern Italy, could be taken as a benchmark for developing a standardized national data-acquiring format, providing a step-by-step instructions on the manipulation of address elements specific for Italian language and traditions.
  
  
  METHODS
  Geocoding analysis was carried out on a health database comprising 268,517 records of the Local Health Unit of Rovigo in the Veneto region, covering a period of 10 years, starting from 2001 up to 2010. The Map Service provided by the Environmental Research System Institute (ESRI, Redlands, CA), and ArcMap 10.0 by ESRI(®) were, respectively, the reference data and the GIS software, employed in the geocoding process.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The first attempt of geocoding produced a poor quality result, having about 40% of the addresses matched. A procedure of manual standardization was performed in order to enhance the quality of the results, consequently a set of guiding principle were expounded which should be pursued for geocoding health data. High-level geocoding detail will provide a more precise geographic representation of health related events.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The main achievement of this study was to outline some of the difficulties encountered during the geocoding of health data and to put forward a set of guidelines, which could be useful to facilitate the process and enhance the quality of the results. Public health informatics represents an emerging specialty that highlights on the application of information science and technology to public health practice and research. Therefore, this study could draw the attention of the National Health Service to the underestimated problem of geocoding accuracy in health related data for environmental risk assessment.
authors.affiliation: Department of Molecular Medicine, Institute of Hygiene, Laboratory of Public Health and Population Studies, University of Padua, Italy;
authors.forename: T
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Baldovin
authors.affiliation: Department of Molecular Medicine, Institute of Hygiene, Laboratory of Public Health and Population Studies, University of Padua, Italy;
authors.forename: D
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Zangrando
authors.affiliation: Azienda ULSS 18 Rovigo, Veneto Region, Rovigo, Italy;
authors.forename: P
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Casale
authors.affiliation: Department of Historical and Geographic Sciences and the Ancient World, University of Padua, Italy.
authors.forename: F
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Ferrarese
authors.affiliation: Department of Molecular Medicine, Institute of Hygiene, Laboratory of Public Health and Population Studies, University of Padua, Italy;
authors.forename: C
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Bertoncello
authors.affiliation: Department of Molecular Medicine, Institute of Hygiene, Laboratory of Public Health and Population Studies, University of Padua, Italy;
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Buja
authors.affiliation: Azienda ULSS 18 Rovigo, Veneto Region, Rovigo, Italy;
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Marcolongo
authors.affiliation: Department of Molecular Medicine, Institute of Hygiene, Laboratory of Public Health and Population Studies, University of Padua, Italy;
authors.forename: V
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Baldo
keywords: Data matching; Environment and Public Health; Geographic Information Systems