Geospatial Approaches for Environmental Justice: A Critical Review.

The effective use of geospatial data and technologies to collect, manage, analyze, model, and visualize geographic data has great potential to improve data-driven decision-making for immunization programs. This article presents a theory of change for the use of geospatial technologies for immunization programming—a framework to illustrate the ways in which geospatial data and technologies can contribute to improved immunization outcomes and have a positive impact on childhood immunization coverage rates in low- and middle-income countries. The theory of change is the result of a review of the state of the evidence and literature; consultation with implementers, donors, and immunization and geospatial technology experts; and a review of country-level implementation experiences. The framework illustrates how the effective use of geospatial data and technologies can help immunization programs realize improvements in the number of children immunized by producing reliable estimates of target populations, identifying chronically missed settlements and locations with the highest number of zero-dose and under-immunized children, and guiding immunization managers with solutions to optimize resource distribution and location of health services. Through these direct effects on service delivery, geospatial data and technologies can contribute to the strengthening of the overall health system with equity in immunization coverage. Recent implementation of integrated geospatial data and technologies for the immunization program in Myanmar demonstrate the process that countries may experience on the path to achieving lasting systematic improvements. The theory of change presented here may serve as a guide for country program managers, implementers, donors, and other stakeholders to better understand how geospatial tools can support immunization programs and facilitate integrated service planning and equitable delivery through the unifying role of geography and geospatial data.

Contact tracing, a useful public health tool that aids in the identification of individuals who may have come into contact with a person known to be infected with a disease, has been identified as key to the mitigation and suppression of COVID-19. Effective contact tracing allows public health authorities to sever chains of transmission and shift policy to case-based interventions such as selective individual quarantines rather than population-wide interventions such as social distancing. While public health authorities have the ability to conduct manual contact tracing, many do not have the capacity to identify and trace infected individuals at the scale or speed needed to respond to the COVID-19 pandemic. To improve the reach and effectiveness of contact tracing, many are proposing to expand contact tracing capacity by introducing digital contact tracing technologies that use the geospatial tracking technologies (e.g., GPS, WiFi, Bluetooth) embedded in mobile devices to gather, store, transfer, and share the location and contact histories of individuals. This chapter examines contact tracing, its potential extension using geospatial technologies, and the tradeoffs between privacy and effectiveness that may arise as these systems are developed and deployed to address COVID-19. By identifying linkages between the potential capabilities of these technologies and ethical and privacy principles of geospatial data handling, we introduce a framework for assessing conflicts between privacy and effectiveness. This framework is needed if we are to hold an informed public discussion of two critical questions. First, how the potential spread of geospatial contact tracing technologies may impact the institutional structures of society. Second, how societal processes might change the form geospatial contact tracing technologies take and the role we intend for them to play.

Quantifying the exposome is key to understanding how the environment impacts human health and disease. However, accurately, and cost-effectively quantifying exposure in large population health studies remains a major challenge. Geospatial technologies offer one mechanism to integrate high-dimensional environmental data into epidemiology studies, but can present several challenges. In June 2021, the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences (NIEHS) held a workshop bringing together experts in exposure science, geospatial technologies, data science and population health to address the need for integrating multiscale geospatial environmental data into large population health studies. The primary objectives of the workshop were to highlight recent applications of geospatial technologies to examine the relationships between environmental exposures and health outcomes; identify research gaps and discuss future directions for exposure modeling, data integration and data analysis strategies; and facilitate communications and collaborations across geospatial and population health experts. This commentary provides a high-level overview of the scientific topics covered by the workshop and themes that emerged as areas for future work, including reducing measurement errors and uncertainty in exposure estimates, and improving data accessibility, data interoperability, and computational approaches for more effective multiscale and multi-source data integration, along with potential solutions.

<p>Currently, a myriad of geospatial technologies, geovisual techniques and data sources are available on the market both for data collection and geovisualization; from drones, LiDAR, multispectral satellite imagery, “big data”, 360-degree cameras, smartphones, smartwatches, web-based mobile maps to virtual reality and augmented reality. These technologies are becoming progressively easy to use due to improved computing power and accessible application programming interfaces. These advances combined with dropping prices in these technologies mean that there are increasing opportunities to collect more data from heterogeneous populations as well as communicating ideas to them. This offers seemingly limitless opportunities for anyone collecting and disseminating geospatial data. When data are aggregated and processed, it becomes information. To communicate this information effectively and efficiently geovisualizations can be utilized. The aim of geovisualization is to interactively reveal spatial patterns that may otherwise go unnoticed. Much excitement surrounds each of these geospatial technologies which offer increased opportunities to communicate geospatial phenomena in a stimulating manner through various geovisualization techniques and interfaces. The challenge is that it also takes very little effort to make geovisualizations that may be visually attractive but do not communicate anything. With so many accessible geospatial technologies available a common and important question persists: <strong> What geospatial technologies and geovisualization techniques are best suited to collect and communicate geospatial data?</strong></p><p>The answer to this question will vary based on the phenomena being examined, the geospatial data available and the communication goals. <strong> Here I present a taxonomy of geospatial technologies and geovisualization techniques, identifying their strengths and weaknesses for data collection and geospatial information communication. </strong>The aim of this taxonomy is to act as a decision support tool, to help researchers make informed decisions about what technologies to incorporate into a research project. With so many different technologies available, what should a researcher consider before they pick which platform to use to communicate important findings? More explicitly, how can specific geospatial technologies help transform scientific data into information and subsequent knowledge?</p><p>Included in this taxonomy are data collection tools and cartographic interface tools. This taxonomy is informed by literature from a cross-section of disciplines ranging from cartography, spatial media, communication, geographic scale, spatial cognition, human-computer interaction, and user experience research. These literatures are presented and woven together to synthesize the strengths and weaknesses of different geospatial technologies for data collection/entry and spatial information communication.  Additionally, key considerations are presented in an effort to achieve effective communication; meaning identifying intended use with intended users, to best meet communication goals. To illustrate key points, indicator data from the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals are used. The aim here is to offer recommendations on how to best identify and apply appropriate technology for data collection and geovisualization, in an effort to reduce the number of frivolous, confusing, and ugly maps available online.</p>

Liability in data, products, and services related to geographic information systems, spatial data infrastructure, location based services and web mapping services, is complicated by the complexities and uncertainties in liability for information system products and services generally, as well as by legal theory uncertainties surrounding liability for maps. Each application of geospatial technologies to a specific use may require integration of different types of data from multiple sources, assessment of attributes, adherence to accuracy and fitness-for-use requirements, and selection from among different analytical processing methods. All of these actions may be fraught with possible misjudgments and errors. A variety of software programs may be run against a single geographic database, while a wide range of users may have very different use objectives. The complexity of the legal questions surrounding liability for geospatial data, combined with the diversity of problems to which geospatial data and technologies may be applied and the continually changing technological environment, have created unsettling and often unclear concerns over liability for geospatial technology development and use. This article selects a single data quality issue to illustrate that liability exposure. In regard to that issue, it may have a substantial stifling effect on the widespread use of web-based geospatial technologies for such purposes as geographic data mining and interoperable web mapping services. The article concludes with a recommendation for a potential web-wide community solution for substantially reducing the liability exposure of geospatial technology and geographic data producers and users.

Geospatial Technologies (GST) have opened the doorway to a globalised field of knowledge that geospatial technologies have given shape to. Citizens are demanding open-access geospatial data to understand and, where possible, participate in providing a most accurate interpretation on geo-references, and thus contributing to empowering citizens to shape local policies. Upon leaving compulsory education, citizens still show an interest in geo-referenced information and they are able to associate the acquired knowledge with geospatial data. Today, acquiring geospatial thinking abilities is considered an outstanding goal of education. Formal thinking development encourages a student’s cognitive abilities of different reasoning kinds that need to be fostered in order to succeed in lifelong learning. Cognitive processes associated with spatial thinking demand wide-ranging mental abilities. Basic cognitive skills are to observe, identify, relate and compare. Instruction should engage in complex cognitive abilities that lead to reasoning strategies, including classification, hierarchy and analogy, for problem framing and solving at varying scales and by using diverse geospatial tools. In this chapter, the capacities of spatial thinking and reasoning abilities are thus interrelated through geospatial information technologies. By means of this interaction, citizens may learn how to autonomously manage daily spatial situations, or how to put forward effective and efficient solutions in professional environments.

After Hurricane Katrina, Louisiana State University (LSU) collaborated with the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) to create the LSU GIS Clearinghouse Cooperative (LGCC) to disseminate geospatial data. From this experience of serving community geospatial data needs for risk communication, particularly in marginalized areas, and through working with the World Health Organization Collaborating Center for Remote Sensing and GIS for Public Health (WHOCC), we identified several useful geospatial technologies (GT) and methods for their implementation in risk communication strategies. This article provides an assessment of the benefits and limitations of these technologies for risk communication in marginalized communities. Several GT have been employed for risk communication and general data dissemination in communities throughout rural coastal Louisiana. From experimentation with these technologies for risk communication, they can be classed into three groups: lightweight GIS, map dissemination tools, and interactive GT. Lightweight GIS and map dissemination tools will, at some point in their application, require the assistance of a GIS expert or GIS data provider to develop and customize the tool for its intended uses. Interactive GT, however, has rapidly developed options that allow user-friendly operation without reliance on expert assistance. Google Maps, however, is showing the greatest potential for community-based health participation. Classifying the available GT based on functionality is critical to help specialists provide the most effective method for spatial risk communication and to assist community users in creating accessible data for their local health needs.

This study explored geospatial technologies currently used by various researchers, industries, health professionals, etc., in the fight against the global pandemic of COVID19. The use of dashboards is among the prominent innovative geospatial mapping technologies implemented by several bodies such as the Johns Hopkins University’s Center for Systems Science and Engineering (JHU CSSE) dashboard, WHO dashboard, HealthMap dashboard, etc. Dashboards have been useful in providing information on the dynamics of the pandemic spread. The use of geospatial big data and Web map viewers has also gained much ground. The application of various statistical and epidemiological models and tools has equally been utilized to simulate the dynamics of the pandemic in new dimensions. Time series model forecast has played a major role in the modelling of medical facilities, while location/allocation modelling has contributed to resources management for best sites to situate testing centres, emergency units, medical centres, etc. ESRI industry has also developed a number of innovative solutions in the context of indoor assessment of facilities for the new normal, airport smart strategies and mobile tracking technologies, etc. Geospatial technology is critical in the fight against the pandemic, and it is imperative to state that efforts to maximize the technology should be advocated. The study provided limitations to the applications of geospatial technology and recommendation.

The effects of environmental exposure on human health have been widely explored by scholars in health geography for decades. However, recent advances in geospatial technologies, especially the development of mobile approaches to collecting real-time and high-resolution individual data, have enabled sophisticated methods for assessing people’s environmental exposure. This study proposes an individual environmental exposure assessment system (IEEAS) that integrates objective real-time monitoring devices and subjective sensing tools to provide a composite way for individual-based environmental exposure data collection. With field test data collected in Chicago and Beijing, we illustrate and discuss the advantages of the proposed IEEAS and the composite analysis that could be applied. Data collected with the proposed IEEAS yield relatively accurate measurements of individual exposure in a composite way, and offer new opportunities for developing more sophisticated ways to measure individual environmental exposure. With the capability to consider both the variations in environmental risks and human mobility in high spatial and temporal resolutions, the IEEAS also helps mitigate some uncertainties in environmental exposure assessment and thus enables a better understanding of the relationship between individual environmental exposure and health outcomes.

Environmental justice (EJ) research seeks to document and redress the disproportionate environmental burdens and benefits associated with social inequalities. Although its initial focus was on disparities in exposure to anthropogenic pollution, the scope of EJ research has expanded. In the context of intensifying social inequalities and environmental problems, there is a need to further strengthen the EJ research framework and diversify its application. This Special Issue of the International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health (IJERPH) incorporates 19 articles that broaden EJ research by considering emerging topics such as energy, food, drinking water, flooding, sustainability, and gender dynamics, including issues in Canada, the UK, and Eastern Europe. Additionally, the articles contribute to three research themes: (1) documenting connections between unjust environmental exposures and health impacts by examining unsafe infrastructure, substance use, and children’s obesity and academic performance; (2) promoting and achieving EJ by implementing interventions to improve environmental knowledge and health, identifying avenues for sustainable community change, and incorporating EJ metrics in government programs; and (3) clarifying stakeholder perceptions of EJ issues to extend research beyond the documentation of unjust conditions and processes. Collectively, the articles highlight potentially compounding injustices and an array of approaches being employed to achieve EJ.

PurposeThe purpose of the study is to review some of the existing gaps in the third-generation of critical environmental justice (EJ) research and then propose promising combinations of theoretical concepts by adjoining (EJ) literature with other bodies of work with the use of qualitative research methods.Design/methodology/approachThis paper is a critique of the third-generation of critical EJ literature. It demonstrates how the scope of this scholarship, particularly the third world EJ studies, can be expanded further by deploying various combinations of other theories and qualitative research methods.FindingsConceptually, this paper provides insights into the new directions that third world EJ theory can take by drawing from other bodies of work including the developmental state, caste, waste, informal sector and labor studies within its fold. Methodologically, the paper shows why and how qualitative research methods including single and multiple case study, participatory action research and ethnography can assist in developing these new integrations between theories.Research limitations/implicationsThis research calls for the need to conduct studies in each of the new research dimension suggested in this paper in novel empirical spaces. Such studies will enable the practice of EJ and will help to advance the field of EJ scholarship forward.Social implicationsAnalysis of new research combinations with qualitative research methods in new empirical spaces might create scope for practicing EJ in such spaces where various forms of environmental injustices prevail.Originality/valueThis paper identifies gaps in the third-generation of critical EJ research and proposes new research directions by combining other theories and qualitative methods.

One-liner: An analysis of international collaboration for the Global Spatial Data Infrastructure (GSDI), this book provides ten in-depth international and regional collaboration case studies to assess lessons learned for GSDI development and implementation. Geospatial data, information, and technologies are becoming more important and more common tools throughout the world because of their capacity to improve government and private-sector decisionmaking. Geospatial information is developed, used, maintained, and shared in a range of application areas, including transportation, environment, natural resources, agriculture, telecommunications, mapping, health, emergency services, research, and national security. Sharing geospatial data in such applications helps improve the management of public infrastructures and natural resources and produces numerous other benefits. This report presents an analysis of international collaboration for the Global Spatial Data Infrastructure (GSDI). Ten in-depth international and regional collaboration case studies were conducted to assess lessons learned for GSDI development and implementation. This report provides useful information to the GSDI and to regional spatial data infrastructure organizations. It should also be of interest to national governments, nongovernmental organizations, researchers, and others who are interested in international collaboration, geospatial data sharing, and geospatial technologies. cp

Study on the Development of Geo-Spatial Big Data Service System based on 7V in Korea

An estimated 65% of the world’s land and more than 80% of Earth’s biodiversity are under indigenous or local community customary ownership, care, and use. Recent developments in remote sensing, geographic information systems (GIS), mobile, and cloud computing provide the opportunity to systematically and cost-effectively monitor land-cover and land-use changes and threats at multiple scales. It is now possible, via satellite observations, to obtain a synoptic view of ecosystems at spatial and temporal resolutions that are more detailed, locally relevant, and consistent from village to global scales. However, to make geospatial data and technologies work for conservation, we still need to understand how data turn into actionable information and conservation decisions. This chapter uses Open Standards for the Practice of Conservation as a framework to discuss insights from 18 years of using geospatial technologies with the local communities, village and district governments, and other partners to monitor chimpanzee habitats and threats and inform chimpanzee conservation strategies and actions in Tanzania. It focuses on how Earth Observation data and associated technologies enabled and benefitted from the creation of research-implementation spaces in which stakeholders were able to collaborate and interact with geospatial data and results in a diversity of ways. This enabled development of geospatial applications and solutions ‘with’ and not ‘for’ local stakeholders, resulting in expansion of new protected areas managed by village and districts governments and restoration of habitats in some degraded village forest reserves.

Loss in crop production gives a significant impact to food security. The decreasing in crops production has produced imbalance between the food demand of world population and the global agriculture output. There are many factors that may affect agriculture productivity. Abiotic and biotic constrains including water scarcity, poor soils, unsuitable temperatures and the pests, diseases and weeds attacking crops are among the causes that reduce the productivity of food crops. Hence, these lead to the low efficiencies of input use, suppressed crop output, and ultimately reduced food security. The plant pests, diseases and weeds have given significant impact on plant health and causing a great loss in crop production. Therefore, this paper presents a comprehensive review from the available literatures to provide understanding of the role of geospatial technology in combating plant pests and diseases outbreaks. Geospatial data and technologies including Geographic Information System, remote sensing and Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS) and have been used in collecting, mapping, analysing the distribution and predicting the events. The geospatial technology has been used from the early tasks of surveying the status of crop health until forecasting when the disease likely to be occurred. Although many big challenges are facing by the global and local agricultures to produce good outputs and to secure the world food population, however the rich of geospatial data and advancement of technologies have playing certain roles, particularly assisting the decision makers in forming strategies for combating various pests and diseases that affecting plant health and food crops.