Using GIS in Tobacco Prevention & Control: Surveys, Maps, Policy & More

Audience: Program evaluators, program planners and health educators will benefit most.

Key Points: Geographic Information Systems (GIS) is an underutilized tool in tobacco control. It can be used to inform policy, present data to decision makers and identify spatial relationships within tobacco data. GIS has begun to influence health and tobacco research, but the applications are endless. Tobacco control especially can and should use GIS more.

Specific  projects can be adapted to fit individual programs’ needs. Utah adapted the Operation Storefront retailer project for a statewide effort culminating in geographic analysis and presentation of the data. Utah has also used GIS to examine proximity of tobacco retailers to schools and to inform licensing and other policy efforts. Utah continues to develop GIS tools to evaluate and present data on other issues including smoke-free parks, health care facilities, compliance check data, etc.

Educational Experience: Participants will learn from audio and visual presentation elements. These will include PowerPoint slides and explanation by the presenter. The presenter will specifically describe how GIS can be used in tobacco control efforts and give examples of how to find existing GIS data, create your own geographic data and adapt existing projects to meet individual needs.

Benefits: The audience will receive the benefit of knowing how to integrate GIS into existing program objectives and projects. They will increase their knowledge of this emerging software tool. They will be more confident in their ability to find and use geographic data in tobacco control.