empowering Communities with mapping technology

While access to quality health information is frequently a focus of attention in efforts to reduce health disparities in underserved communities, the ability to visualize spatial data and information has received less attention. This is in part due to the historic scarcity of affordable and intuitive data collection and mapping applications. Additionally, the cost to train users, and sustain operations, has been prohibitive for community-based organizations whose health budgets are already strained. This recognition prompted Bird’s Eye View, together with the National Library of Medicine (NLM), to develop the Community Health Maps (CHM) program. This program is now solely run by Bird’s Eye View.

 CHM’s premise is that community-based minority health organizations, environmental health advocacy groups, as well as public health agencies are in a better position to serve their populations when they are able to collect and maintain their own data. This is preferable to relying solely on national or state agencies, or majority-institution partners to provide data to them. CHM is designed to facilitate the use of GIS mapping by those who understand the potential of mapping for public health but think they can’t afford it, or are overwhelmed by the technology. The basic elements of the Community Health Maps workflow are described below.