Community health assessment via data collection and analysis is an essential constituent of community health indoctrination. One benefit of using GIS application is that it is effective in gathering community-based information about given community to understand health issues at the proletarian level (Graham, Carlton, Gaede, & Jamison, 2011). One limitation of using GIS application is the limiting capacity in developing a system and procedure that guarantee the confidentiality of community members and individuals data being assessed. Secondly, more training and user support in GIS technology need to be emphasized.
The specific example of when I might use GIS will be a community health assessment that involves assessing public health concerns of incarcerations in the Los Angeles community. This can be done by utilizing geographic information system in planning, administration, and analysis of recent public health concerns of incarcerations in Los Angeles. This will ensure a reliable and randomly distributed sample of incarcerated individuals and to allow for small geographical area analysis of the Los Angeles metro. GIS will be effective when analyzing health and population data (such as using survey analysis of incarcerated individuals and find of any health related issues) and execute numerical-spatial problem solving.
Beaulieu, L. J., & Southern Rural Development Center, M. S. (2002). Mapping the Assets of Your Community: A Key Component for Building Local Capacity. Retrieved from http://eric.ed.gov/?id=ED467309
Graham, S. R., Carlton, C., Gaede, D., & Jamison, B. (2011). The benefits of using geographic information systems as a community assessment tool. Public Health Reports, 126(2), 298-303 6p.
