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Geographic Information Systems: A planning tool for human service agencies
Geographic Information Systems (gis) Technology
Geographic Information Systems refers to a computer-based technology that combines geographic data (locations of manmade and natural features on the earth’s surface) and other types of information (names and addresses with streets and zipcodes) to generate visual maps and reports. G.I.S uses geographic or spatial characteristics to relate otherwise disparate data and provides a systematic way to collect, analyze, interpret and manage location based information crucial to any business or government organization. It evolved from the need to integrate graphical data with tabular data.
In the past, G.I.S data had to be modified for different kinds of applications. With the evolution of technology, resulting in the expansion of hardware and software infrastructure, capabilities that were once unique areas have been merged for incorporation into new multifaceted applications. Over the years, G.I.S technology has undergone metamorphosis to emerge as a robust technological application possessing the capabilities to process vast amounts of information, analyze and display results. G.I.S software performs a variety of functions including data input, database management, data analysis, graphic presentations, data query and transformation. The latest G.I.S software applications such as ArcView/ArcInfo include some or all of the following capabilities:
- Spatial statistical analysis – ability to generate statistics based on user-defined geographic regions (for example, to compute average income for residents within a certain neighborhood in a community)
- Network analysis – ability to pinpoint distances such as the most efficient routes for transporting elderly clients from their homes to their medical centers
- Geo-coding and global positioning systems – ability to pinpoint a particular location with standard map coordinates such as pinpointing the exact location of senior centers in Maricopa County, Arizona
- Database management systems (DBMS) – standard database manipulation functions such as sorting, querying, joining, appending, updating, restructuring and relating tables and fields
- Spatial decision support systems – ability to analyze spatial data to support decisions (for example, to identify all low income households within 5 miles from downtown Phoenix to plan human service programs specifically targeted at them)
- Multimedia, hypertext and hotlinks –
ability to use sound, video and images and provide interactive
links among various types of media (e.g., linking text describing
a location to an image and a sound file from that location)
GIS technology enables displays, i.e., maps, which provide visual approximations of the real world. They can be customized to individual interests and particular audiences, examined at different levels of detail or from different conceptual perspectives and shown in various formats. G.I.S has helped answer a continuum of questions ranging from the simple to complex – from pure location and inventory queries to policy analysis and planning and complex modeling (O’Looney, 1997). G.I.S technology is thus an invaluable management tool for information processing, multidisciplinary problem solving, and policy decision-making. It is a technological application, which can be used across various disciplines. With improvements in the capabilities of G.I.S technology and the power of G.I.S displays, the number and types of G.I.S uses have expanded exponentially from purely infrastructure and engineering applications to program planning applications pertaining to social and public policy issues.
Human Services and GIS Technology
G.I.S has been widely used by professionals in fields including health, urban planning and criminal justice but the use of G.I.S by human service professionals is comparatively less. There is little documentation in published literature on the use of G.I.S technology in the field of human services. Existing evidence on the usage of G.I.S technology in human services highlight its usage for research related purposes as opposed to administration or direct practice dealing with the provision of services (Queralt and Witte, 1998).
Historically, the founders of Hull-House, one of the earliest Settlement Houses in the United States established in 1889, adopted mapping technology to assess the well -being of communities on a variety of social and economic indicators (Tompkins and Southward, 1998). They used maps to highlight information on the social and economic injustices related to child labor in the 19th ward of Chicago. Community maps enabled them to obtain a clear picture of neighborhood demographics. The community mapping technology started by Hull-House human service workers has evolved from a rudimentary assessment technique to a state-of-the-art technology today and has immense potential implications for the field of human services in terms of practice, policy, administration, education and research.
It was not until the 1980s that G.I.S was widely used for examining relationships between people and the environment (Goodchild, 1995). The National Science Foundation (NSF) through its initiative in 1995 highlighted six areas of research to improve public policy regarding the social, economic and cultural dimensions of people’s lives in the United States including workplace, education, families, neighborhoods, disadvantage and poverty. Each of these areas, integral to the human service profession has a geographic component (Calkins and Eagle, 1995). With this initiative, NSF emphasized the importance of using G.I.S technology for human services research purposes. By linking research on the above mentioned six areas with the macro practice of policy and planning, G.I.S has emerged as a powerful tool in advancing research, practice and policy decisions within the field of human services.
With more and more human service agencies beginning to realize the advantages of G.I.S applications not only for research purposes but also for program planning and efficient service delivery, the usage of G.I.S technology in human services has increased substantially in recent years. A growing number of human service practitioners across the United States are discovering in G.I.S a new way to help people understand social problems, to explain to policy makers and constituents the wide discrepancies between needs and resources and to effectively place those resources in communities.
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