Dear Data Use Net Colleagues,
We received several responses to yesterday’s question. Each response is included below. Rather than
pose new questions, our GIS expert addresses the responses and will cover the remaining steps in
mapping in the final post. Thank you to everyone for the contributions!
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Thanks for information provided by Alex. Personally l would use GIS to map areas most affected by
plasmodium falciparum malaria and identify the overlap with protein energy malnutrition. This is my
specialty. Thanks. Dr. Arthur Kwena.
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Greetings Forum Moderator!
The topic is veeery interesting to me but unfortunately like many others (I suspect) I don’t have too
much direct hands-on experience with using the maps simply because such data is largely inaccessible.
Since I am rather late entering discussions, I will make a general contribution to Day1-Day4 questions in
no particular order:
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The limited experience I have is using the WHO developed Health Mapper, specifically using the
database for Kenya. I found the tool quite fascinating to compare location of health facilities
differentiated by type, to other spatial data like roads, water bodies, towns, population
distribution, etc. Unfortunately much of the data for HFs was erroneous due to various reasons
related to data collection and entry. Unfortunately this reduced its utility as there wasn’t much
confidence in the quality of the data (some facilities missing, duplicated, mis-located e.g found
located in the ocean, wrong district, etc). However, I did try to add health service data to see if
the map could display utilization of certain services spread across the country but this could not
work very well because of the issue of how to determine catchment area or how to make the
software display the catchment (I was using limited IT skills to make an attempt but maybe I
didn’t know enough). What I mean is, since my work is in Health Mngt IS, I had lots of regional
data on health services utilized over long periods by the population, disaggregated by HF, and
wanted to use one data set as an example e.g. ANC 1st visit data, to transpose this on the map
and compare utilization with population distribution. My interest or ‘wish-Map’ so to speak,
would be to monitor how utilization or access to health services at various HFs at different
points in time, compares with population distribution in the catchment areas surrounding the
HFs, and further compare this with the skill levels of Health staff appointed at each HF. This
would enable us know where services are being accesses (or not), and more so which specific
kind of services are preferred in diff areas, so as to build on this to properly allocate staff and
resources. Although you should be able to determine this from the data alone (without the
map), the distribution of population and environmental constraints can also give an idea on
whether the distribution of HFs and resources are effective for equitable access or not. (I hope I
am making sense?)
Eventually though, after many failed trials, to be honest, I used the maps MOSTLY for
reproducing smaller maps delimiting locations, districts, provinces of interest that I would use in
presentations or reports related to projects I was working on. It was nice to pick a name of any
of these, and get it reproduced in the form of a neatly drawn (individual) map, or with
neighbouring locations where required, then use them for different purposes.
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I haven’t used any other software mostly because I have no access, only until today (from this
forum) did I learn that there are free GIS software available. I’ve used the Google Maps also
which are pretty neat, but again, limited information available.
Kind regards,
Maria Kamau,
HMIS consultant,
CCM-Italy,
Somalia.
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Before presenting the list of mapping software I will leave the group with more questions for
discussion:
1) To whom would you show the magically produced maps from yesterday’s question? \
1. Program Managers, Communities, field staff as well as other relevant stakeholders
2) How would you hope they would use the map? Would you show it only to people in decision making
roles, or would field staff find the map valuable? I will use the in reports as well as dissemination
forums as well as program review and reflection. I guess the finished map will be interesting to all as
long as it is well presented and proper keys included in the legend. Similarly, maps can mislead if the
display especially when using symbology is poorly done (Some people use random colours which at
times are not meaningful at all). Therefore as you plan to share your maps ensure that they are well
layed-out and clearly communicate whatever message you want to pass across. Have busy maps with
too much information can be destructive as well.
3) Any questions about the software list below? Are there mapping programs you have used that you
have found useful that aren’t on the list below, that you’d like to share with the group? EPI-MAP that
comes with EPIINFO is also a good software to use. It is multi-functional ( has data entry, analysis,
report writing and mapping functions). However its GIS functions are limited to display of data. You
might not be able to manipulate data the way you do with other Arc GIS Softwares.
Alex R. Rotich,
Pact Sudan MERL Technical Advisor
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From the MEASURE Evaluation GIS expert:
I have tried this week to have two main themes: how the mapping could help the members of the list
and the process for getting started with mapping. Before rounding out the last couple of steps in the
process, I’d like to respond to some of the issues raised by list members since yesterday’s post.
EpiMap was mentioned as another mapping program option. Yes. EpiMap (available
http://www.cdc.gov/epiinfo/maps.htm) is a mapping add-on for EpiInfo that those who have experience
with EpiInfo may find it of value. Thanks for adding it to the list.
HealthMapper from WHO (http://www.who.int/health_mapping/tools/healthmapper/en/) was also
mentioned. This was a mapping program that was produced by WHO. Unfortunately it has been a while
since it has been updated, and while it had definite strengths as a mapping program. It did have some
weaknesses. I think others have probably had experiences with the software similar to what was
described by Maria Kamau. However I understand that WHO is currently evaluating it’s strategy
regarding updates and may be soon transitioning to an open source based mapping solution.
The responses to the question about who to show the magically produced map to were interesting.
Alex’s answer, “program managers, communities, field staff as well as other stakeholders” highlights
how effective use of data requires both a top down and bottom up approach. If stakeholders
throughout the system aren’t part of the data use process then critical blind spots can develop. For
instance maps may help those in the field, closest to much of the “action”, identify trends and patterns
that can help them as they do their work. The more data and data display tools like maps are used in the
system, at all levels of the system, the more that data has the potential to improve programs and
decisions.
The point about maps being misleading is important as well. As a geography student in college, I had to
read a book called “How to Lie With Maps”. The purpose of the book wasn’t actually to teach us how to
lie using maps, but the ways that poorly designed maps could misrepresent data. The best defense
against this is as Alex says to make sure they are well laid out, with clear titles and descriptions. Also
important is the use of reasonable data classifications and symbols. It is tempting to delve into more
detail, as this topic is worthy of a discussion in and of itself, however due to time constraints I will have
to leave it at that.
Because there is still a lot to cover about the remaining steps, I will break this post into two separate
posts to keep them from being too long.
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Views expressed do not necessarily reflect the views of USAID or the U.S. government. MEASURE Evaluation is the
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