A Geographic Information System (GIS) can be described as a sophisticated, spatial software that allows for combining different types of data including, but not limited to, demographics, health data, and community resources, all connected by an underlying map. The GIS can then be used to investigate various relationships, trends, and patterns between the different layers of data. In addition to analyzing various secondary data, such as census information or summarized electronic health records, utilizing geospatial technologies, for example, field mapping devices or global positioning system (GPS) units, means that a detailed insight can be gained into the health consequences of any environment. Examples of what one can determine using GIS include which health outcomes cluster around a water course; what is the most effective route for a rural patient to travel to care; or which neighborhoods, and even intersections, generate spikes in pediatric injuries.There are many GIS applications in both public health and clinical health research. In addition, several other aligned disciplines, such as sociology, social work, urban planning, and geography, use GIS to visualize and analyze geographic data that have a relevance to health phenomena. For example, GIS has been utilized to study heart disease mortality and access to hospitals (Yamashita & Kunkel. 20101: breast cancer and historical exposure to pesticides (Brody et al.. 2004): clusters of opioid prescription abuse in New Mexico (Brownstein. Green. Cassidv. & Butler. 20101: obesity and neighbor fast-food outlets (Li, Harmer, Cardinal. Bosworth, & Johnson-Shelton, 20091: and sexually transmitted diseases epidemiologic patterns in Fort Bragg, North Carolina (Zenilman et al.. 2002). The appreciation of how space and place intersect with health, and a suite of important, new geospatial technologies have opened new avenues of research and given rise to several multidisciplinary fields including medical geography, geomedicine, health geography, and geographic gerontology. In spite of having different names and sometimes different disciplinary perspectives, these fields all focus on the interrelationships between geographic/environmental attributes and health outcomes.However, the manner in which our environment affects health and wellbeing is still in its infancy in the nursing literature. This column will provide a basic introduction as to how GIS can be used as a research tool to study various nursing phenomena. We will begin by reviewing selected examples of the relatively few nursing studies that have utilized a GIS.Examples of GIS Use in the Nursing LiteratureBloch (2011! examined the correlation between the exposure to stressful environments (as indicated by crime rate and poverty) and preterm birth rate in foreign-born and United States (U.S.)-born African American mothers. Bloch studied 2000 U.S. Census data and Philadelphia crime data, using a GIS, to show how stressful neighborhoods are significantly associated with a higher prevalence of preterm birth for foreign-born and U.S.-born black mothers. Bloch established these relationships by geographically manipulating and overlaying data on births, crime, poverty, race, and nativity into common areas (census tracts).In another example, Madigan, Wiencek, and Vander Schrier (2009) used GIS to examine the availability of community-based, end-of-life care providers to the elderly in rural areas. The researchers created maps for eight states showing the distribution of community-based, end-of-life providers per 1,000 elders at the county level by degree of rurallty. The analysis showed that more than 85% of rural counties in Arkansas and Louisiana did not have end-of-life hospice providers. Madigan et al. noted that studies such as theirs provide crucial information for making social-policy decisions.It is important to recognize that Madigan et al.'s research was conducted at a different geographic scale than that of Bloch's (2011). …