GIS as a Powerful Communication and Community Empowerment Tool

Objective:  GIS (Geographic Information Systems), a powerful analytical tool, can also serve as an influential communication tool. Maps and the health and environmental information represented can inform and empower both individuals and communities. Pertinent spatial information, shown at varying scales, provides “snap shot” views of a program, a local community, or a nation. Visual displays of health disparities and resources can create a memorable, shared platform for informed, participatory discussion and decision making in communities.

Methods:  This is a tool available for use by health professionals and local community members. Custom maps can be created using GIS software or free online tools allowing access to this technology by individuals at all levels of skill.  The ability to produce compelling displays does not necessarily require a large investment of resources.

Results:  Visual displays of community data have been used by a number of community programs to engage community members in awareness about problems or to track progress in programs, empowering communities in participatory discussions. Maps provide a vehicle for clear and concise communication of information for decision making and education.

Conclusion:Everyone loves maps, from children to adults.  When presented with a map, people endeavor to locate their own house or town. This human impulse for situating our sense of “place” and “meaning” in the world is harnessed by the production and dissemination of maps, providing information about health disparities, risk factors and/or environmental factors.