Applied GIS for Public Health
Course is to familiarize students with principles, methods, & techniques necessary to apply GIS in public health settings. Weekly readings, discussions, case studies are presented to introduce application of GIS technologies; maps for visualizing clusters, mobile phone-Apps for data collection, & spatial analyses such as proximity analysis or site suitability. Course includes assignments aimed & acquiring experience on the use of GIS for infectious disease control, disease cluster detection, environmental justice, health services data mapping, & spatial risk assessment. Culminating project: Story Map where students use maps they’ve created as well as additional narrative text images & optional videos for community health education or policy
Topics
- ﹣ The objective of this course is to provide technical training . ﹣ Understand the rewards and challenges of working with spatial data. ﹣ Know how to define, design, implement and apply spatial data to a health-related issue. ﹣ The ability to develop disease surveillance maps. ﹣ Create a mobile-GIS tool for capturing geo-located health or asset data. ﹣ Create a Story Map to convey information related to an important health issue. ﹣ Understand how maps relate to policies such as redlining and how those relate to current health inequities.
- Obtain marketable skills (eg. StoryMaps and Dashboards)
Official catalogue course objectives and student learning outcomes
Sources
- Course catalogue ↗2026-2027