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Project Goal
In 2004 the MDPH Center for Environmental Health (CEH) established a dedicated GIS Program that is staffed by two GIS Specialists and a GIS Coordinator.
The GIS program has been called upon to support a wide range of program activities and initiatives. One project highlight is the development of the Standardized Incidence Ratio (SIR) Calculator, an ArcGIS-based toolbar that calculates rates for 26 cancer types and all cancer types combined, and displays the pattern of rates for small geographic areas across Massachusetts. The application uses geocoded Massachusetts Cancer Registry data, a population-based database of cancer incidence spanning approximately two decades.
GIS played a vital decision-support role during the Massachusetts flu vaccine shortage. The GIS Program created overlays of geographically-aggregated flu vaccine supply data, age cohort information from the U.S. Census to identify high risk populations, and potential and actual vaccine dispensing sites. Additional analyses lead to the refinement of the definition of the “at risk” population so to maximize the likelihood that remaining flu doses would reach those most in need.
Future activities include the creation of an interactive mapping application that shows small-area rates of childhood blood lead poisoning along with inspection and deleading data from the Childhood Lead Poisoning Prevention Program database and other environmental information.
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Business Problem Solved
The establishment of a GIS Program addressed the growing demands for timely, efficient GIS analyses within the Center for Environmental Health. The Program’s dedicated GIS staff supports end-user GIS implementations, increasingly sophisticated client applications, and a more robust GIS data warehouse.
The GIS solutions implemented in Environmental Health have been scaled out across the Department. Despite a large base of useful, practical experience applying GIS technology in public health, and an underlying demand for GIS capacity, the MDPH lacked cross-program GIS coordination with respect to hardware and software purchases, license management, data sharing, or technical support and expertise. The activities of the CEH GIS Program have filled this need, and the GIS Program staff act as liaisons between senior staff, information technology personnel, and GIS users.
Technology Implemented
MDPH Central GIS: With assistance from our partners at the Commonwealth Office of Geographic and Environmental Information (MassGIS) and adjunct support from MDPH IT staff, the CEH GIS Program established an ArcSDE/SQL Server GIS data warehouse with high quality statewide basemap data. All GIS clients were upgraded and/or standardized to ArcGIS 9.x with the MassGIS Dataviewer, a custom ArcGIS interface that facilitates browsing, searching, and symbolizing MassGIS-provided datalayers in the ArcSDE database. MDPH standards for cartography were established and promoted through the creation of ArcGIS map template files.
SIR Calculator: This tool is a custom ArcObjects-based application for ArcGIS 9.x clients. Underlying data is also served with ArcSDE/SQL Server.
Development Team Biography
Suzanne Condon
Associate Commissioner and Director of the Center for Environmental Health
Massachusetts Department of Public Health
Martha Steele
Deputy Director
Center for Environmental Health
Sara Kustron
GIS Coordinator
Center for Environmental Health
Theresa Cassidy
Senior Community Epidemiologist
Community Assessment Program
Center for Environmental Health
Loni Plocinski
GIS Specialist
Center for Environmental Health
Jessica Gajarsa
GIS Specialist
Center for Environmental Health
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