Advanced Methods of Geographical Information Systems

Code:

PDSP12_16

Acronym:

PDSP12_16

Keywords
Classification	Keyword
OFICIAL	Public Health

Instance: 2023/2024 - 2S

Active?	Yes
Responsible unit:	Public Health and Forensic Sciences, and Medical Education Department
Course/CS Responsible:	Doctoral Programme in Public Health

Cycles of Study/Courses

Acronym	No. of Students	Study Plan	Curricular Years	Credits UCN	Credits ECTS	Contact hours	Total Time
PDSP	4	Current Studies Plan	1	-	3	14	81

Teaching language

Portuguese and english
Obs.: Se todos os estudantes dominarem o Português as aulas serão lecionadas nesse idioma.

Objectives

Geographic Information Systems (GIS) are increasingly used in public health to explore the associations between health, places, and the social and physical environment. In this curricular unit, we will cover advanced GIS tools utilized in public health and epidemiology for mapping and analyzing space-time dynamics of health events and for environmental exposure assessment.

Learning outcomes and competences

It is expected that at the end of the course the students will be able to:

• Recognize the importance of GIS and geographic thinking in the understanding of complex public health problems;
• Analyze and apply the basics of cartography, geodesy, and geography;
• Collect, georeference, and manage geographic data for public health practice and research;
• Conduct advanced vector data analysis and analyze raster data such as those obtained from remote sensing products;
• Use geostatistics and spatial statistical methods, including interpolation, cluster detection, and space-time dynamics;
• Create Webmaps and Webapps to collect and share geographical data;
• Independently design and implement an investigation in public health using GIS.

Working method

Presencial

Pre-requirements (prior knowledge) and co-requirements (common knowledge)

No prior knowledge is required

Program

Overview of the applications of GIS to public health practice and research at a global, regional, and local levels.

Revising the foundations of spatial data, geoprivacy, cartography, and thematic mapping.

Manipulating remote sensing products and raster data to measure different types of environmental exposures (e.g., green and blue spaces) and to create risk maps.

Geostatistics, density maps, and interpolation methods.

Conducting network analysis to measure the geographical accessibility to healthcare facilities and other community resources.

Applying spatio-temporal analytics to track clusters of health events.

Fitting spatial regression models to identify ecological determinants of health events.

Automate geoprocessing tools to improve the efficiency and accuracy of tasks, workflows, and analytics.

Using Web mapping and Web applications to collect, describe and disseminate geographical data and products.

Mandatory literature

Cromley E, McLafferty S; GIS and Public Health, The Guilford Press, 2012

Complementary Bibliography

Longley, P, Goodchild, M, Rhind D; Geographical Information Systems and Science, John Wiley & Sons Ltd, 2005
Matos J; Fundamentos de Informação Geográfica, Lidel, 2008
Kurland KS, Gorr WL; GIS Tutorial for Health for ArcGIS Desktop 10.8, Esri Press, 2021
Pfeiffer DU, Robinson TP, Stevenson M, Stevens KB, Rogers DJ & Clements AC; Spatial Analysis in Epidemiology, Oxford university press, 2008
Ribeiro AI, Dias V, Ribeiro S, Silva JP & Barros H; Geoprivacy in neighbourhoods and health research: a mini-review of the challenges and best practices in epidemiological studies, Public Health Reviews, 2022

Teaching methods and learning activities

The teaching and learning methodology is based on theoretical-practical classes. The lecturer starts the class with the necessary theoretical bases and then conducts a series of practical exercises using a GIS software.

In each session students will receive: 1) slides, 2) general and specialized bibliographic references, and 3) spatial data and lab tutorials.

Software

ArcGIS
QGIS
GeoDa
SaTScan

keywords

Health sciences
Social sciences > Geography > Cartography

Evaluation Type

Distributed evaluation without final exam

Assessment Components

Designation	Weight (%)
Trabalho escrito	60,00
Trabalho laboratorial	40,00
Total:	100,00

Amount of time allocated to each course unit

Designation	Time (hours)
Frequência das aulas	14,00
Trabalho escrito	40,00
Trabalho laboratorial	27,00
Total:	81,00

Eligibility for exams

Attendance of at least 75% of all classes.

Calculation formula of final grade

Assignments (40%) + research project (60%)