Comparing health status and access to health care in Canada’s largest metropolitan areas

Research has shown persistent inequalities in access to health care between and within sociodemographic groups and geographic areas. Yet much of what we know about geographical disparities in access comes from studies of regional and urban/rural contrasts, or from studies of intra-urban, neighborhood-level variations. We know relatively little about variations in access to primary health care across different urban areas, and whether such variations translate into differences among residents’ health. This study examines how health status and access to primary care vary across five of Canada’s largest cities, paying particular attention to populations that may be particularly vulnerable based on age and income. Across all outcomes, there was a consistently strong relationship with individual socioeconomic status. We show that city of residence is important for access to health care but not for health status. Results are discussed in terms of their relevance for urban health-care policy and delivery, and impacts on health and access to care.     

A review of volunteered geographic information quality assessment methods

With the ubiquity of advanced web technologies and location-sensing hand held devices, citizens regardless of their knowledge or expertise, are able to produce spatial information. This phenomenon is known as volunteered geographic information (VGI). During the past decade VGI has been used as a data source supporting a wide range of services, such as environmental monitoring, events reporting, human movement analysis, disaster management, etc. However, these volunteer-contributed data also come with varying quality. Reasons for this are: data is produced by heterogeneous contributors, using various technologies and tools, having different level of details and precision, serving heterogeneous purposes, and a lack of gatekeepers. Crowd-sourcing, social, and geographic approaches have been proposed and later followed to develop appropriate methods to assess the quality measures and indicators of VGI. In this article, we review various quality measures and indicators for selected types of VGI and existing quality assessment methods. As an outcome, the article presents a classification of VGI with current methods utilized to assess the quality of selected types of VGI. Through these findings, we introduce data mining as an additional approach for quality handling in VGI.     

Mining spatiotemporal association patterns from complex geographic phenomena

ABSTRACT

Spatiotemporal association pattern mining can discover interesting interdependent relationships among various types of geospatial data. However, existing mining methods for spatiotemporal association patterns usually model geographic phenomena as simple spatiotemporal point events. Therefore, they cannot be applied to complex geographic phenomena, which continuously change their properties, shapes or locations, such as storms and air pollution. The most salient feature of such complex geographic phenomena is the geographic dynamic. To fully reveal dynamic characteristics of complex geographic phenomena and discover their associated factors, this research proposes a novel complex event-based spatiotemporal association pattern mining framework. First, a complex geographic event was hierarchically modeled and represented by a new data structure named directed spatiotemporal routes. Then, sequence mining technique was applied to discover the spatiotemporal spread pattern of the complex geographic events. An adaptive spatiotemporal episode pattern mining algorithm was proposed to discover the candidate driving factors for the occurrence of complex geographic events. Finally, the proposed approach was evaluated by analyzing the air pollution in the region of Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei. The experimental results showed that the proposed approach can well address the geographic dynamic of complex geographic phenomena, such as the spatial spreading pattern and spatiotemporal interaction with candidate driving factors.     

Understanding usage and preference for health care therapies in a Ghanaian context: A pluralistic perspective

Studies of health care and health-care seeking behaviour in Ghana have mainly shown that many patients tend to use indigenous medicine to address their health care needs. These studies have cited affordability, acceptability, availability, and accessibility as major factors behind the predominant use of indigenous medicine. Nevertheless, in these studies, researchers often ignore the third health care option – self-care, usually subjugated under the indigenous medical system. Since the mid-1980s, both biomedical and indigenous health care systems have witnessed transformations that have shaped and changed their modes of operation, as well as the cost of treatment. In light of this, the author seeks to understand the motivations behind the preference for and use of self-care, professional biomedical care, and indigenous forms of care in the context of Ghana’s health care system. A qualitative, in-depth interview technique was used for data gathering. Findings from the study revealed that time and cost of treatment were major factors accounting for the predominant use of self-care. The author concludes that the findings challenge the long-held belief that biomedicine is not widely accepted by people in Ghana compared with indigenous medicine.     

西方老年人长期照护研究的地理学回顾

从地理学视角来看,西方国家关于老年人长期照护的研究经历了从非地理学者的早期探索,到多学科交叉领域,再到地理学研究分支领域的发展过程。论文在回顾已有文献的基础上,梳理出西方老年人长期照护地理学研究的5个主题：① 老年人长期照护需求的地理分布;② 照护设施的空间布局及可达性;③ 长期照护服务的利用状况与制约因素;④ 不同空间或场所的照护体验;⑤ 长期照护的政策讨论与应对,以期为从地理学视角解读中国特定社会经济背景下的老年人长期照护提供借鉴,并对中国老年人长期照护的地理学研究提出展望。     

Thematic signatures for cleansing and enriching place-related linked data

There has been significant progress transforming semi-structured data about places into knowledge graphs that can be used in a wide variety of geographic information systems such as digital gazetteers or geographic information retrieval systems. For instance, in addition to information about events, actors, and objects, DBpedia contains data about hundreds of thousands of places from Wikipedia and publishes it as Linked Data. Repositories that store data about places are among the most interlinked hubs on the Linked Data cloud. However, most content about places resides in unstructured natural language text, and therefore it is not captured in these knowledge graphs. Instead, place representations are limited to facts such as their population counts, geographic locations, and relations to other entities, for example, headquarters of companies or historical figures. In this paper, we present a novel method to enrich the information stored about places in knowledge graphs using thematic signatures that are derived from unstructured text through the process of topic modeling. As proof of concept, we demonstrate that this enables the automatic categorization of articles into place types defined in the DBpedia ontology (e.g., mountain) and also provides a mechanism to infer relationships between place types that are not captured in existing ontologies. This method can also be used to uncover miscategorized places, which is a common problem arising from the automatic lifting of unstructured and semi-structured data.     

虚拟地理环境的多维数据模型与地理过程表达

该文通过剖析虚拟地理环境所表达的地球表层空间与其在计算机空间的映射之间的关系,定义了一维、二维、三维及多维虚拟地理环境;指出虚拟地理环境与传统地图、GIS的区别及联系。阐述近年来虚拟地理环境研究对地理学乃至地球科学研究方法和手段的影响以及对地理科学思维方式和重点研究领域的影响。     

A citizen data-based approach to predictive mapping of spatial variation of natural phenomena

The vast accumulation of environmental data and the rapid development of geospatial visualization and analytical techniques make it possible for scientists to solicit information from local citizens to map spatial variation of geographic phenomena. However, data provided by citizens (referred to as citizen data in this article) suffer two limitations for mapping: bias in spatial coverage and imprecision in spatial location. This article presents an approach to minimizing the impacts of these two limitations of citizen data using geospatial analysis techniques. The approach reduces location imprecision by adopting a frequency-sampling strategy to identify representative presence locations from areas over which citizens observed the geographic phenomenon. The approach compensates for the spatial bias by weighting presence locations with cumulative visibility (the frequency at which a given location can be seen by local citizens). As a case study to demonstrate the principle, this approach was applied to map the habitat suitability of the black-and-white snub-nosed monkey (Rhinopithecus bieti) in Yunnan, China. Sightings of R. bieti were elicited from local citizens using a geovisualization platform and then processed with the proposed approach to predict a habitat suitability map. Presence locations of R. bieti recorded by biologists through intensive field tracking were used to validate the predicted habitat suitability map. Validation showed that the continuous Boyce index (B_cont(0.1)) calculated on the suitability map was 0.873 (95% CI: [0.810, 0.917]), indicating that the map was highly consistent with the field-observed distribution of R. bieti. B_cont(0.1) was much lower (0.173) for the suitability map predicted based on citizen data when location imprecision was not reduced and even lower (?0.048) when there was no compensation for spatial bias. This indicates that the proposed approach effectively minimized the impacts of location imprecision and spatial bias in citizen data and therefore effectively improved the quality of mapped spatial variation using citizen data. It further implies that, with the application of geospatial analysis techniques to properly account for limitations in citizen data, valuable information embedded in such data can be extracted and used for scientific mapping.     

多源地理大数据支撑下的地理事件建模与分析

地理事件作为描述地理过程的基本单元,逐渐成为地理信息科学（GIS）核心研究内容。由于受人类活动数据获取限制,GIS对地理事件的建模和分析主要关注事件所引起的地理空间要素变化及要素之间的相互影响与作用机制。然而,近年来随着基于位置服务数据（LBS）爆炸式的增长和人类活动大数据定量刻画手段的快速发展,地理事件对人类活动的影响以及公众对地理事件的网络参与度都引起了多个领域的广泛关注,对地理事件的时空认知、建模方法和分析框架提出了巨大的挑战。对此,本文首先深入分析了大数据时代地理事件的概念与分类体系;其次,基于地理事件的时空语义给出了基于图模型的事件数据建模,建立了事件本体及其次生或级联事件的“节点—边”表达结构,开展了事件自身时空演化及其前“因”后“果”的形式化描述;第三,从时空数据分析与挖掘的角度,给出了大数据时代地理事件建模与分析的整体框架,拟突破传统“地理实体空间”事件探测与分析方法的局限性,融合“虚拟空间”事件发现与传播模拟思路,实现多源地理大数据支撑下的面向地理事件的人类活动多尺度时空响应与区域差异分析;最后,本文以城市暴雨事件为例诠释了本文所提出的地理事件建模与分析方法,从城市和城市内部两个尺度进行了暴雨事件与人类活动的一致性响应及区域差异分析,得到了明确的结论,验证了前文分析框架的可行性与实用性。     

GIS空间数据库的"一库两用"策略研究

GIS有两种普遍的应用需求:空间分析和数字制图,但两种需求对空间数据的要求不完全一致,导致空间数据在同一GIS中无法充分共享。该文探讨能够同时满足两种需求的GIS构建方法。分析地理空间数据存在的冲突,引入"一库两用"思想,建立空间分析型数据模型;利用专家系统机制实现空间分析数据向数字制图数据的转换,转换过程中补充的信息源于专家知识库。该研究有助于解决GIS中数据不一致问题,使GIS更实用、功能更完善。     

From Geographic Holism to Geographic Information System

Substantial changes in a core idea of geography, integration, have occurred since Alexander von Humboldt published Kosmos (1845-1862). These changes are part of a larger shift in Western civilization to mechanistic reasoning. This shift led to the strengthening of system-based analysis, central to the development of geographic information systems (GIS). The duality of holism and the systems approach has led to an apparent contradiction in geography. R. Hartshorne in The Nature of Geography described this contradiction, but as did Alfred Hettner and Emil Wisotzki before, moved to partial systems as the core concept of geographic integration. Hartshorne's concept of vertical integration is the antecedent for the ubiquitous GIS layer model. The reduction of geographic relationships and processes to mechanistic components (layers) aids the systematic approach, but may lessen geographic understanding of a place's interrelationships. Although the partiality of the system approach was already acknowledged by Finch and Hartshorne in the 1930s, the tension between holistic and system approaches in geography remains. Holism and system-based approaches are indeed complementary methods for developing geographic understanding. Using holistic approaches to understand geographic phenomena, before we teleologically (following a purpose) analyze phenomena as a system, extends GIS to include broader interrelationships of geography in specific locations.     

From Geographic Holism to Geographic Information System

Substantial changes in a core idea of geography, integration, have occurred since Alexander von Humboldt published Kosmos (1845-1862). These changes are part of a larger shift in Western civilization to mechanistic reasoning. This shift led to the strengthening of system-based analysis, central to the development of geographic information systems (GIS). The duality of holism and the systems approach has led to an apparent contradiction in geography. R. Hartshorne in The Nature of Geography described this contradiction, but as did Alfred Hettner and Emil Wisotzki before, moved to partial systems as the core concept of geographic integration. Hartshorne's concept of vertical integration is the antecedent for the ubiquitous GIS layer model. The reduction of geographic relationships and processes to mechanistic components (layers) aids the systematic approach, but may lessen geographic understanding of a place's interrelationships. Although the partiality of the system approach was already acknowledged by Finch and Hartshorne in the 1930s, the tension between holistic and system approaches in geography remains. Holism and system-based approaches are indeed complementary methods for developing geographic understanding. Using holistic approaches to understand geographic phenomena, before we teleologically (following a purpose) analyze phenomena as a system, extends GIS to include broader interrelationships of geography in specific locations.     

Using open‐ended geographic information system assessments to allow students to construct relevant geographies given the internationalisation of tertiary education in New Zealand

The geospatial skills shortage in New Zealand requires the development of more undergraduate geographic information system (GIS) courses. However, the internationalisation of New Zealand's tertiary education system has resulted in an increasingly diverse tertiary student population, which makes it challenging to teach GIS in a way that maximises relevance to all tertiary students. One approach to this challenge is to make use of the recent proliferation of openly available GIS data, and to internationalise GIS curricula by using open‐ended assessments that provide students with the opportunity to learn GIS by constructing their own geographies of relevance.     

Coupling maximum entropy modeling with geotagged social media data to determine the geographic distribution of tourists

Modeling the geographic distribution of tourists at a tourist destination is crucial when it comes to enhancing the destination’s resilience to disasters and crises, as it enables the efficient allocation of limited resources to precise geographic locations. Seldom have existing studies explored the geographic distribution of tourists through understanding the mechanisms behind it. This article proposes to couple maximum entropy modeling with geotagged social media data to determine the geographic distribution of tourists in order to facilitate disaster and crisis management at tourist destinations. As one of the most popular tourist destinations in the United States, San Diego was chosen as the study area to demonstrate the proposed approach. We modeled the tourist geographic distribution in the study area by quantifying the relationship between the distribution and five environmental factors, including land use, land parcel, elevation, distance to the nearest major road and distance to the nearest transit stop. The geographic distribution’s dependency on and sensitivity to the environmental factors were uncovered. The model was subsequently applied to estimate the potential impacts of one simulated tsunami disaster and one simulated traffic breakdown due to crisis events such as a political protest or a fire hazard. As such, the effectiveness of the approach has been demonstrated with specific disaster and crisis scenarios.     

信息地理学学科体系与发展战略要点

信息时代的到来极大地促进了地理科学的发展,地理科学的研究已从传统的自然地理空间、人文地理空间拓展到了信息地理空间,催生了信息地理学的发展,并逐渐形成了地理遥感科学、地理信息科学和地理数据科学3个分支学科。在《中国学科及前沿领域发展战略研究（2021—2035）》地理科学的学科规划背景下,本文梳理了信息地理学的形成、定义和学科体系,重点阐述了信息地理学的学科发展战略布局、优先领域发展目标和重点方向。以期本文有助于促进遥感、地理信息科学与技术的发展和应用回归地理科学,进一步强化地理科学研究,使其更加系统化、科学化和现代化,促进地理科学的整体发展。     

A modified binary space partitioning tree for geographic information systems

We present a reactive data structure, that is, a spatial data structure with detail levels. The two properties, spatial organization and detail levels, are the basis for a geographic information system (GIS) with a multi-scale database. A reactive data structure is a novel type of data structure catering to multiple detail levels with rapid responses to spatial queries. It is presented here as a modification of the binary space partitioning tree that includes the levels of detail. This tree is one of the few spatial data structures that does not organize space in a rectangular manner. A prototype system has been implemented. An important result of this implementation is that it shows that binary space partitioning trees of real maps have O(n) storage space complexity in contrast to the theoretical worst case O(n² ), with n the number of line segments in the map.     

广州市城中村农民工医疗行为及其空间特征——以新凤凰村为例

运用结构式访谈和深度访谈的调查方法,以城中村的农民工为研究对象,分析其医疗行为及空间特征,并探讨其形成原因。研究发现:城中村的农民工医疗保健水平低,医疗机构的使用率低;在医疗制度不完善的背景下,农民工能动地通过各种途径解决医疗需求,形成三种类型的医疗行为模式,即"自力更生"型、"社会资本"依赖型及"经济实力"型。结合医疗机构的空间分布,农民工医疗行为的空间特征符合距离衰减规律,同时表现出明显的波动性,表现为一个跳跃式五圈层结构。本研究试图为改善农民工的健康行为模式提供科学基础,并在一定程度上补充国内城市保健地理及行为地理的研究。     

Accessibility in designing centralised warehousing: Case of health care logistics in Northern Finland

Long distances and sparse service networks set challenging conditions for material logistics in health care. Globally, health care organisations have been making structural changes towards centralised warehousing and deliveries. In Northern Finland, material logistics of the public health care system rely mainly on numerous separate order and delivery systems, although logistics needs, ordering and stock in different health care facilities correspond to each other. As centralised logistics in orders and deliveries may lead to remarkable savings, pressure for centralised management is high. This paper analyses how effectively a potential centralised warehousing system can be organised based on its spatial components. These include optimal location of one or more warehouses, delivery network coverage and efficiency of routes, as well as accessibility of health centres and hospitals. The geographic information systems (GIS) -based accessibility analytical framework described in this study applies vehicle routing and heuristic computations to location-allocation of warehouses to potential sites by optimising transport cost with a constraint to provide service to at least 90% of delivery demand. The spatial data include the road network, health care facility locations with rough estimates of freight demand nodes and potential locations of warehouse facilities. The main findings of the study show that majority of health centres and hospitals can be effectively reached by a delivery network based on one or two warehouses. Furthermore, the efficiency of the delivery network does not increase remarkably by increasing the number of warehouses, when measured as driving time.