Abstract
Background: Geographic information science (GIS) has established itself as a distinct domain and incredibly useful whenever the research is related to geography, space, and other spatio-temporal dimensions. However, the scientific landscape on the integration of GIS in COVID-related studies is largely unknown. In this systematic review, we assessed the current evidence on the implementation of GIS and other geospatial tools in the COVID-19 pandemic. Methods: We systematically retrieved and reviewed 79 research articles that either directly used GIS or other geospatial tools as part of their analysis. We grouped the identified papers under six broader thematic groups based on the objectives and research questions of the study- environmental, socio-economic, and cultural, public health, spatial transmission, computer-aided modeling, and data mining. Results: The interdisciplinary nature of how geographic and spatial analysis was used in COVID-19 research was notable among the reviewed papers. Although GIS has substantial potential in planning to slow down the spread, surveillance, contact tracing, and identify the trends and hotspots of breakdowns, it was not employed as much as it could have been. This review not only provided an overarching view on how GIS has been used in COVID-19 research so far but also concluded that this geospatial analysis and technologies could be used in future public health emergencies along with statistical and other socio-economic modeling techniques. Our systematic review also provides how both scientific communities and policymakers could leverage GIS to extract useful information to make an informed decision in the future. Conclusions: Despite the limited applications of GIS in identifying the nature and spatio-temporal pattern of this raging pandemic, there are opportunities to utilize these techniques in handling the pandemic. The use of spatial analysis and GIS could significantly improve how we understand the pandemic as well as address the underserviced demographic groups and communities.
Highlights
COVID-19 has taken the world within a blink of an eye with a rapidly increasing confirmed cases and case-fatalities around the world[1]
COVID-19 is more of a public health and welfare issue, these articles covered from public health issues to planning techniques, environmental concerns, and, most importantly, used geospatial analysis tools and techniques as part of their methods
China, first reported COVID-19 cases, and the Geographic information science (GIS) has the highest number of confirmed cases, which was reflected in the over-representation of these two countries in these articles
Summary
COVID-19 has taken the world within a blink of an eye with a rapidly increasing confirmed cases and case-fatalities around the world[1]. The application of spatial analysis tools, techniques, and geographic information system (GIS) platforms provide the scientific community and the practitioners a wide range of benefits. These benefits include more straightforward and understandable visualization, real-time tracking of confirmed and reported case numbers[4], contact tracing, spread direction, and to identify the hotspots to limit the dispersion and community spread[5,6]. This review provided an overarching view on how GIS has been used in COVID-19 research so far and concluded that this geospatial analysis and technologies could be used in future public health emergencies along with statistical and other socio-economic modeling techniques. Conclusions: Despite the limited applications of GIS in identifying the nature and spatio-temporal pattern of this raging pandemic, there are Invited Reviewers 1 version 1
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