Demographic data and geographic information systems for decision making: The case of public health

Recent changes in the United States health care system include a broadened definition of health and renewed focus on public health. Increasingly, demographic analyses are incorporated into public health decision-making. Analysts also are using geographic information more routinely, because Geographic Information System (GIS) software is becoming easier to use. The paper describes three cases in which demographers used GIS to analyze the spatial distribution of public health data. The first case, from Santa Clara County, California, focuses on adolescent sexually transmitted diseases in secondary school districts. The second case, also from Santa Clara County, maps preventable hospitalizations of senior citizens. The third examines the distribution of premature births in Tennessee counties. The researchers applied demographic techniques and perspectives in each case, and each case produced information that is being used by officials who plan health education campaigns and services.     

县域低丘缓坡土地资源宜建性评价方法研究

低丘缓坡的合理开发利用,对当前区域发展与建设有着十分重要的作用。以奉新县低丘缓坡土地资源为研究实例,建立低丘缓坡土地资源建设适宜性评价体系,重点对指标体系的构建和评价方法进行了研究。首先,结合奉新县实际情况和专家意见,从地形、生态、社会经济、地质、区位5个因素出发,选取相应评价因子并构建指标体系。然后,采用多因子综合叠加分析与主成分分析组合的方法确定了评价模型,并运用GIS技术对奉新县低丘缓坡建设用地进行了综合评价分析。最后在低丘缓坡宜建性理论潜力分析的基础上得到了可实现潜力,初步实现了建设用地适宜性评价的定量化、系统化和信息化。     

A Multivariate Analysis of the Working Poor in Texas: Implications for Policy

ABSTRACT

Social policy makers and researchers in the United States are greatly concerned with the plight of millions of immigrants to the United States. The effects of immigrants on the distribution of services and goods for impoverished segments of the population, especially along southern border-state areas, are currently undergoing scrutiny of policy makers. President George W. Bush has recently recommended sending the National Guard to the southern border to curb illegal migration. There is a strong national sentiment against illegal migration. Many believe that illegal migrants are exploited and, therefore, contribute disproportionately to the growing class of working poor in America. However, their have been limited attempts to link scientifically derived demographic and economic evidence of the causal factors associated with the growth of the working poor, and to develop research methodology and technical means to provide needed and valuable decision-support information for perspective policy makers and service providers. Using census data we attempt to empirically and geospatially look at the factors that contribute to the growth of working poor within the border state of Texas and its counties during 1990–2000.     

Segregated behind the walls: residential patterns in pre-industrial Copenhagen

ABSTRACT

This article presents a longitudinal study of residential patterns in the fortified city of Copenhagen. It uses a Geographical Information System (GIS) approach along with the HISCO and HISCLASS coding schemes for occupational titles to discuss residential segregation in Copenhagen between 1711 and 1845. In a period of population growth, spatial expansion of Copenhagen was prevented by building restrictions related to the fortress. As the city grew increasingly dense into the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, historians have assumed that distinct areas of high or low social status (horizontal segregation) were non-existent and that the city was only socially stratified within buildings (vertical segregation), with basements and attics housing the economically deprived. Already in the early eighteenth century, however, the social landscape of Copenhagen was divided into areas of high and low status. Further, towards the middle of the nineteenth century, social status increased in the city centre as it decreased in peripheral areas. This change stands in contrast to the models of Sjoberg and Vance, in which socio-geographical change comes with urban expansion. Instead, I argue that fires and other disasters offered similar opportunities for change, with the extent of socio-geographical change determined by the political circumstances surrounding reconstruction.     

论城市综合功能GIS开发

为适应城市化发展的要求,需要建立城市综合功能GIS.城市综合功能GIS的应用模式为办公自动化、科研和社会化服务.开发程序主要是系统分析、系统设计、实施与评价等.在GIS开发中应注意框架结构、开发模式、标准化、系统升级、难度与进度以及建库投入等问题.     

张家界旅游产品开发的空间演化与乡村振兴分析

旅游产品是旅游业的核心,深入研究自然资源类旅游产品开发的时空演变对于了解区域旅游发展规律及旅游城镇形成与乡村振兴具有重要意义。以张家界为例,从产业生成周期视角,分析张家界旅游产品与乡村振兴的时空演化规律及动力机制。研究发现：（1）不同阶段,旅游产品的空间分布格局有所不同,旅游产品开发与城镇化及乡村振兴交互影响,贯穿于旅游产品的时空演化过程中。（2）张家界旅游产品演化的内在动力来自于旅游经济价值,外在动力来自于游客多元化和阶段性需求差异;在内外动力的共同作用下,推动着旅游产品在空间上沿着一定轨迹不断演化和发展。（3）探索出一条“旅游产品开发—旅游产业发展—旅游城镇形成—乡村振兴”的发展模式。     

A GIS Analysis of East Asian Care Gaps in Residential and Assisted Living Facilities in Vancouver,Canada

Residential care and assisted living services provide support to seniors who may not have the ability to live independently. However, East Asian residents often do not have sufficient access to culturally specific activities, which may result in psychosocial stress and isolation. This study presents a geographic analysis method to evaluate spatial distribution of culturally tailored senior care facilities in Metro Vancouver. We identify geographical disparities, indicating that many East Asian seniors have poor local access to a culturally tailored facility. We recommend the use of geographical analysis techniques to improve the analysis and planning for senior care in an increasingly diverse population.     

Siting Affordable Housing in Opportunity Neighborhoods: An Assessment of HUD’s Affirmatively Furthering Fair Housing Mapping Tool

In this article, we examine the content and structure of the new affirmatively furthering fair housing mapping tool (AFFH-T) developed by the US Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) as part of its new assessment of fair housing (AFH) process. Our analysis is focused on the degree to which the data included in the AFFH-T is suitable for the development of plans to site affordable housing in opportunity neighborhoods, and the utility of this tool as a public participation GIS (PPGIS) platform. Our analysis highlights strengths and weaknesses of the AFFH-T and we offer recommendations for its further development.     

You are where you live: Methodological challenges to measuring children’s exposure to hazards

Many of the challenges that affect children living in poverty are directly related to the neighborhoods in which they live. Places that inhibit healthy living and those that expose children to environmental pollution tend to more heavily affect children in poverty. This environmental injustice is a natural concern of the fields of urban planning, geography, and children’s health. Yet many decisions that affect opportunities for healthy living are made without a full understanding of how neighborhood context influences such opportunities. In this brief, we paint inequalities in child health outcomes as a spatial problem, review some of the geospatial tools used by urban planners and geographers, discuss common reasons for misclassification or misrepresentation of spatially explicit problems, and propose more suitable methods for measuring opportunities and exposures germane to the field of child poverty. Throughout, we emphasize the need for evidence-driven, spatially grounded responses to child poverty issues with a spatial dimension.     

基于GIS技术与公共服务设施视角的农村居民点用地适宜性评价——以长兴县为例

农村居民点用地适宜性评价是居民点选址建设的基础,在新农村建设及土地集约利用方面有着重要的意义.文章从城乡统筹规划中公共服务设施一体化的视角,以长兴县为研究区域,结合实地调研选取评价因子,并借鉴《土地评价纲要》中分级方法,对其进行分级,从而构建农村居民点建设用地适宜性评价指标体系,采用多因素综合评价模型进行评价.借助ArcGIS的栅格计算器和空间分析功能,进行前后两步处理,确定出农村居民点建设用地适宜区域,为长兴县农村布局规划提供依据.