Missoula County Health Department – Interactive Web GIS Application
GCS partnered with the Missoula County Health Department (MCCHD) to create an interactive web-based GIS mapping application that visualized key youth health indicators. This initiative was funded by the Maternal Infant and Early Childhood Home Visiting Infrastructure Development (MIECHV ID) grant and aimed to provide valuable community insights.
Key Features of the Web GIS Application
This web GIS platform offered interactive tools to explore a variety of important datasets, including:
- Youth Population Density: Visualized youth population density by age using census data.
- Youth Services: Displayed the locations of schools, childcare centers, Head Start and Early Head Start programs, and playgrounds.
- Health and Social Indicators: Provided access to data related to public health nursing services, family-based services, poverty levels, obesity statistics by zip code, free/reduced lunch recipients, crime rates, unemployment, and safe routes to schools.
- WIC Grocery Stores: Displayed the locations of WIC-approved grocery stores.
This application was built with an open architecture, allowing for seamless integration of additional data as needed. GCS leveraged Esri ArcGIS Online technology to develop this interactive platform and provided custom training to the Missoula County Health Department for ongoing maintenance and usage.
Objectives and Requirements
The MCCHD sought custom GIS solutions to support health initiatives tied to the MIECHV ID grant. This web-based GIS mapping application was designed to visualize spatial data relevant to community health, especially among youth demographics.
Comprehensive GIS Development Solution
GCS delivered a full-scale GIS solution that included:
- Data Development: Prepared FGDC-compliant spatial data.
- Custom Web Application Development:
- Interactive mapping layers
- Advanced analysis tools
- Thematic displays with effective symbolization
- Attribute information with pop-ups and metadata
- Hosted Deployment: Utilized ArcGIS Online for web service hosting, along with GIS Server hosting for advanced functionality.
GCS delivered all project data outputs, including shapefiles, geodatabases, and source code, while working closely with the MCCHD’s GIS Coordinator to ensure seamless integration with the county’s existing infrastructure.
Training and Ongoing Support
To ensure long-term success, GCS provided comprehensive GIS training and ongoing technical support, empowering MCCHD to efficiently manage and utilize the web GIS application post-deployment.
Identified Health Indicators for Mapping
Various organizations, including the Best Beginnings Council, identified the following health indicators to be included in the web GIS platform:
- Census 2010 tract data: Mapped to neighborhood boundaries.
- Preschooler populations: Location-based analysis.
- Childcare centers: Mapped by location.
- Public Health Nursing recipients: Service locations.
- Head Start/Early Head Start: Locations of service recipients and home visits.
- Family-Based Services: Mental health service provider locations.
- Education institutions: Public and private schools, mapped by county and neighborhood boundaries.
- Health insurance coverage: Proportion of uninsured children and adults.
- Children with special health care needs: Access to medical and dental services.
- Poverty levels: Proportion of persons and children below the poverty line.
- Obesity statistics: Mapped by zip code.
- Free and reduced lunch recipients: School data.
- Infectious disease data: Linked with state data to identify outbreaks.
- Unemployment: County-level unemployment data.
- Crime statistics: Community-level crime analysis.
- Safe routes to schools: Identified school-safe streets.
- Playgrounds: Location mapping of public playgrounds.
- Bike routes: Mapped bicycle-friendly routes.
- Public transportation routes: Visualized bus stops and routes.
- Legislative districts: Political boundaries.
- Public water fountains: Identified public access locations.
- Breastfeeding-friendly businesses: Business locations supportive of breastfeeding.
- Emergency food and nutrition programs: Locations of WIC sites, school meals, summer meal sites, senior meal sites, food banks, and farmers markets.
- Local farmers: Mapped for public sales to assist restaurants and institutions in purchasing.
- Bus stops: Visualized transit stop locations.
- WIC grocery stores: Locations of WIC-approved stores.
Conclusion
The web GIS application developed by GCS for the Missoula County Health Department provided critical data visualization tools, supporting the health and well-being of youth in the community. With an emphasis on cloud-based GIS and custom spatial solutions, this project significantly enhanced community health insights.
About MCCHD
The Missoula City-County Health Department (MCCHD) is a public health agency located in Missoula County, Montana. MCCHD is dedicated to promoting and protecting community health through various initiatives and services.
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