There are various categories of technologies that run the modern world and without which the human life would be traumatized. Man has integrated his environment with his artificial creations to achieve better results from life activities. The environment comprises of the ecosystem where human beings interact with their day-to-day operations. Some of such aspects that man has invented into his environment are geo design, geographic information science and geographic information science.
Geo design involves technology, inventions and techniques for planning man-made and natural environmental systems in a procedural integrated manner that includes analyses, design and design creation, project conceptualization among others. Related to geo design is geographic information science. It can be explained as a research field or study that reviews geographic concepts and their application in geographic information systems context. Geographic information science seeks to evaluate the influence of geographic information science on society and individuals and the relationship among various aspects with GIS. Geographic information system, GIS, involves a computer technology that uses systems that capture, store, check and show various data that are related to the Earth’s surface mostly using maps. GIS enables people to look at different locations and compare how such places relate to each other. GIS could be applied in showing areas that have pollution like gas stations and industries; it can also reveal demographic data such as the population in a place that has access to education among others. (National Geographic, n.d.).
Geo design has various applications in the human life. The most notable ones are the health matters. Geo design has been on the frontline in the application in epidemiology and public health management. As stated above, geo design applies the aspects of the immediate environment of man. The environment has elements such as the surrounding climate and land use. From these, there are issues of various infectious diseases that affect the human lives. Geo design has helped bring out health professionals and even epidemiologists who use technological models and techniques in tracking diseases, the possible disease outbreak hubs and even their spread. In addition, the geo design aspects such as GIS and geographic information science have also led to the creation of specialized techniques for integrating remote-sensing technologies and climatic models for public health purposes (Resch, 2011).
Similarly, geo design knowledge has been used in the public health through the use of medical models that help describe the effects of conditions that have previously been seen as a challenge to the global environmental health. These techniques have been utilized in the study of pollutants that may contribute to health complications. Technology from geo design such as noise mapping has been used to determine the impact on human health by the noise from construction, excavation and industrial enterprises (Resch, 2011).
Geo model is also applied in the designing of healthy communities. Healthy communities may be defined as conditions that make the human lives more comfortable and which improve the quality of human life. To start with, geo design has been used in the creation of frameworks involving land use patterns such as transportation systems. Among others is the water distribution channels meant for human consumption. These are decided upon through the utilization of the geo design systems that use the positioning systems and the land terrain. Similarly, healthy communities through geo design have been created through functional factors such as safety features and destination features. Safety aspects include the establishment of quality sidewalks and footpaths along traffic routes to prevent cases of road accidents.
Another instance of the application in the designing of a healthy community is through the analyses of frameworks such as traffic and air pollution that affect the human population health. Disease cases and their frequencies, as well as their spread, are also determined through the various techniques of geo design. The geographic science systems and the GIS technology establish locations that have epidemics and disease causing factors. In addition, the GIS techniques are also used in the determination and assessment of hazard risks and the possibilities of such risks hitting the surrounding areas. Such include tsunamis, storms or even famines as a result of adverse weather and climatic conditions. The knowledge of global positioning systems is applied here and helps in ensuring that such hazards are reduced, and their likelihood of their happening is minimal.
Geo design and its subcategories are also used in the location-allocation cases. The location-allocation are scenarios in which there is a need for the analysis of the location of an item for the optimum achievement of objectives. This system is used in the determination of where to locate various facilities such as healthcare facilities as per given data from the GIS tracking. Notably, the location-allocation models use modern techniques in the decision-making. Global positioning and internet satellite maps are used to show the populations, resources needed and those available as well as the distribution of such elements (Polo, 2015).
Models used include the spatial accessibility models that allow for evaluation of the services that need improvement, establishment or other additions. A notable application of this technique of location-allocation is the establishment of healthcare services. Spatial location-allocation models are used together with other geographic information systems to allow generation of different location and relocation alternatives. The systems use the data gathered from various regions such as their population, the prevalent weather conditions that may lead to any diseases, the availability of transport networks leading to such facilities, distribution of such services and the need for establishing and improving such services in the locations of interest.
A well-known application of the location-allocation model of the geo design is the recent analysis of public sterilization of cats and dogs program in Colombia between 2010 and 2011. The project used integration of the location-allocation and accessibility models in evaluation using public data. (Polo, 2015) Another example is a study in 2001 in rural areas of Ghana in the Ga District in the determination of an appropriate health service planning model.
The Ghana project, available at https://tidsskrift.dk/index.php/geografisktidsskrift/article/view/2522/4481 , used a GIS-based location-allocation analysis to determine the health planning in Ghana. The data was drawn from the previous and most recent census, old topographic maps and records. The data were mainly concentrated on the availability and distribution of health care services and their accessibility. Also, data on transport systems and networks was assessed. The outcome was that most patients travelled for long distances to access the only 15 available health care institutions in the Ga District, which was the project area of study. The details were limited since there were few digital materials to be integrated into the GIS location-allocation model (Lasse, 2011).
The project applies to most developing nations in the Africa and Asia continents health sectors. The concerns that need to be addressed in the improvement and implementation of better health care include focusing on the social-economic status, transport systems and distribution of such facilities. Additionally, there is a need to update vital data about population, health issues, improving transportation networks and equitable distribution of healthcare services. State agencies should establish modern and digital means of data collection, storage and evaluation alongside its integration with the geo design techniques. The use of geo design and GIS techniques will provide vital information regarding health matters such as their disparate distribution, accessibility, challenges that the patients face in the search for such among others. The application of geo design will help reveal possible climatic and weather conditions that may contribute to health deteriorations and what should be done (Lasse, 2011).
Additionally, from the Ghana GIS-based project, there is a need for modernization in the health service provisions. The Ga District is just a representation of many regions that lack modern technology for easier dispatching of the health services.
References
Lasse M., & Richard, K. (2001). Exploiting available data sources: location/allocation modeling for health service planning in rural Ghana | Møller-Jensen | Geografisk Tidsskrift. Retrieved from https://tidsskrift.dk/index.php/geografisktidsskrift/article/view/2522/4481
National Geographic. (n.d.). GIS (geographic information system) - National Geographic Education. Retrieved from http://education.nationalgeographic.com/education/encyclopedia/geographic-information- system-gis/?ar_a=1
Polo, G., Acosta, C. M., Ferreira, F., & Dias, R. A. (2015). Location-Allocation and Accessibility Models for Improving the Spatial Planning of Public Health Services. PLoS ONE, 10(3), e0119190. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0119190
Resch, Bernd et al. (2011). "Integrated Urban Sensing: A Geo-sensor Network for Public Health Monitoring and Beyond," forthcoming in International Journal of Geographical Information Science. Retrieved from http://dspace.mit.edu/handle/1721.1/64636
