Developing a WebGIS for Geo-Visualization of Cancer

Abstract

BackgroundConsidering the hygiene facilities and sharing the data of diseases, considerable attempts to promote the public awareness have been made by various media; however, most of the provided information is based on numerical and verbal statistics, and may not provide suitable understanding for people in regard with the situation of diseases.ObjectivesThe main aim of this study is to design an interactive WebGIS system in which people could simply produce and observe their favorite maps of different cancers and environmental parameters. They can use this tools to produce their personalized maps and explore various aspects of the cancer.Materials and MethodsA system has been developed by using WebGIS for convenience of ordinary users without any knowledge about geospatial information system (GIS) to observe the situation of the diseases and environmental conditions in terms of static and user-produced interactive maps. It has also provided the possibility of spatial comparison of the arbitrary parameters in the framework of bar and pie diagrams. This system has been designed and launched on cancer database of Iran where information of meteorological stations has been embedded as environmental parameters.ResultsThe innovative idea in this study has received less attention in previous works including possibility of producing web-based Choropleth map so that users could easily select the parameters and algorithms for classification and interactive coloring in the system to produce their personalized maps.ConclusionsDevelopment of WebGIS tools and increased cooperation of people in terms of inserting the spatial labels on the map to report a disease or using their views about reasons of occurring a specific cancer in a specific region may cause turning the process of mono-direction flow of information to users to a bi-directional flow of information. As a result, cancer specialists could use the knowledge of local people and residents of different regions of the country to better analyze the situation of various kinds of cancers.

The role of geographic information system and global positioning system in dementia care and research: a scoping review

“…This technology can provide high-resolution environmental characteristics, and researchers could use this first-hand information to model contextual and environmental risk (e.g., air pollution) and protective factors (e.g., access to publicly open green and blue spaces). However, despite of Web-GIS potential for real-time data management, query, and visualization, it is surprising that this review has not found examples of web-based GIS applications in dementia, when there are successful examples of its use for other chronic diseases, such as cardiovascular [139], diabetes [140], or cancer [141].…”

Social Vulnerability of Brazilian Metropolitan Schools and Teachers’ Absence from Work Due to Vocal and Psychological Symptoms: A Multilevel Analysis

“…The literature shows that absences for voice symptoms are mostly short [ 30 ], whereas those for psychological symptoms tend to last longer [ 14 ]. A study showed that long-term absence from work occurred more often in older teachers [ 13 ].…”

“…For instance, Kienberger et al (2013) [ 29 ] developed a webGIS to spatially visualize vulnerabilities to dengue fever in Cali (Colombia). Khoshabi et al (2016) [ 30 ] developed an interactive webGIS tool to dynamically visualize and analyze cancer data and environmental parameters for a database in Iran. This study also implemented different forms to visualize cancer occurrence in the form of bar and pie charts.…”

A spatio-temporal analysis of influenza-like illness in Iran from 2011 to 2016

“…Regions with a positive Z-score and values ≥ 1.96 indicate a higher rate and are considered as hot spots. Likewise, regions with a negative Z-score and values ≤ -1.96 indicate a lower rate and are cold spots (14)(15)(16)(17)(18)(19)(20)(21).…”