Special Topics Project 1 Report Phase

The posted maps were created as part of the first project in the University of West Florida On-line GIS certification course, Special Topics in GIS (GIS 4048). The project was a health study of air pollution, asthma and race in the San Francisco bay area. The study focused on looking at asthma hospitalization rates in the nine counties that make up the bay area to look for correlations between factors such as race and air quality.

The study had three separate analytical parts that required their own deliverables. Each of the maps posted here was part of one of those studies and they are being presented in the order of the study.

Public Health Analysis: Part 1 Demographics

The first part of the study was actually a separate study that took priority when the project leaders were notified that funds were available to help uninsured populations. The goal was to determine if there were any correlations between certain possible poverty indicators such as unemployment, race and single mother-hood and the uninsured population.









Public Health Analysis: Part 2 A Closer Look at Asthma

The second part of the study looked at the relation ship of race and air quality factors to the rate of asthma hospitalizations in the bay area. The goal was to try to determine if there was any correlation between these factors, determine which ones and locate both the target population and target county where funds would best be allocated to hospitals likely to receive the most asthma hospitalizations.









Public Health Analysis: Part 3

Part 3 of the study proceeds under the assumption that the previous phases of the study have shown a population most at risk of asthma hospitalization and the county that is the most likely to experience impacts from increased hospitalizations from the targeted population. The goal of this portion of the study was to look at where targeted asthma sufferers may suffer due to point sources of pollution and which hospitals are most likely to be utilized by the targeted population. The study mapped sources of pollution such as Toxic Release Index (TRI) point locations and roadways, hospitals and the distribution of the targeted population at the Census Tract level. These factors were compared via weighted overlays to identify the most likely "hot" zones where the proximity to a hospital, the pollution factors and the targeted population could most likely lead to increased use necessitating the need for an increase in staffing and funding.