ABSTRACT
This chapter originally appeared as an article entitled “Geographic Information Systems and Health: An Educational Resource” in the March/April 1995 issue of the Journal of Geography (Albert, Gesler, and Wittie, 1995). It is reprinted here with the permission of the National Council for Geographic Education. The article chronicles the early years (through 1993) of the diffusion of geographic information systems into medical geography and related disciplines. It documents a small but vibrant body of research that was grappling with the introduction of GIS into the realms of health and disease. While some scholars were optimistically urging usage of this emerging technology, others were advocating caution before jumping on the GIS bandwagon. All the while, a handful of investigators began to develop and operationalize applications of geographic information systems with a specific focus on health and/or disease.
