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Developing Health Geographic Information Systems For Khorasan Province In Iran
S.H. Sanaei-Nejad,
Ferdowsi University of Mashhad, Iran,
E-mail: Sanaei_h@yahoo.co.uk
H.A.Faraji Sabokbar
Tehran University, Iran,
E-mail: Faraji1382@yahoo.com
Abstract
GIS has been used for many years In Iran, in agricultural, economic, natural resources, urban planning and other sectors. Using GIS in these sectors also face different barriers, mainly because lack of accurate and sufficient data. However, using GIS for health management and research is still in the beginning stages. Health service in Iran is widely spread and complicated activity. Health management is also a centralized decision making procedure. Therefore allocation of spatially scattered health facilities to urban and rural area is a very difficult task
The local health management in Khorasan Province (North East of Iran) decided to use GIS as the main tools for processing the health data in spatial base. We proposed them to develop an enterprise Web based GIS for health service in Khorasan. A project has been designed to prepare spatial data, general platform, relational database and web based GIS software. The architecture of the system is based on Content Management System (CMS). In the CMS, three main branches are considered: Spatial data preparing, feature attribute data preparing, processing and management and spatially relating the feature attribute databases.
The project is completed and the system will be ready to be used in the near future. In this paper we have explained our plan and the stages that we have completed to establish the Health Geographic Information System for Khorasan province
Introduction
A Geographic information system (GIS) is designed to work with spatially referenced data (Maxwell, 1976; EPA 1987). It means that we can work with both attribute and spatial databases and manipulate spatially referenced data. We can also use a set of operations to work with the attribute data in relation to the location where the data has been collected. The essential components of a GIS are as following:
- Data acquisition,
- Preprocessing,
- Data management,
- Data manipulation and analysis and
- Product generation (Oranga, 1995).
Therefore GIS differs from Camputer Aid Design (CAD) and from statistical analysis system. Based on the above components, GIS can be used to investigate questions about location, condition, trends, routing and patterns of attributes.
The above characteristics of GIS make it essential for the health service and management. Because the health service facility, immunization, demographic, health personnel, hydrological system, and improved water supply facility databases have different geographically defined information. (Savigny, et. al., 1995).
In the health service and management in Iran health databases are used as feature attribute data without considering spatial dependency. In this project GIS was considered to use maps, which are prepared for health subjects and correlated to the different available databases.
There are three options that one may consider to use GIS for health management.
Desktop GIS by which, maps and attribute data are used by implementing of a properly software. This system can be used individually by a manager or by one person or by a group of staff by installation the GIS in their personal computer.
Workstation GIS, by which maps and t attribute data are stored in a server computer and users are able to use a software map and data processing by their PC Via a Local Network.
An enterprise GIS can be established o coordinate the system more efficiently by using Web based GIS. This sort of GIS uses World Wide Web as a platform to access the map and related attribute data. This is a new well-developed GIS tools and can be used as a powerful enterprise GIS.
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