Spatial Analysis, GIS, and Remote Sensing Applications in the Health Sciences, by Donald P. Albert, Wilbert M. Gesler and B. Levergood (Boca Raton, FL: CRC Press, 2002). ?2.99, $109.95, €57.44. ISBN 13 978-1-575-04101-8

摘要

This was one of the first publications that attempted to encapsulate the application of spatial analysis, GIS, and remotely sensed data in the health sciences. The authors state from the offset that they take a traditional medical geography approach, and thus are primarily appealing to the academic community. They do this admirably by providing comprehensive and diverse references, both in the chapters and as part of a 'Master GIS/RS Bibliographic Resource Guide' appendix. However, health practitioners head a list of the intended audience, and I feel the medical geography approach has made this book less useful to this audience. This volume does not have a chapter dedicated to an introduction to GIS (unlike some subsequent health GIS books), which is to its advantage. There are many separate publications, both paper and on online, which provide an introduction to GIS, and the a bsence of such leaves more room for health GIS subject matter. The authors provide some useful definitions of medical and geographic terminology and concepts in chapter 1, the introduction. They go on to provide synopses of the individual chapters and attempt to summarize the essence of how the volume has been organized. Their stated aim was to describe 'what' rather than 'how'; a laudable approach where the authors encourage readers to follow up references for the detail of 'how'. I feel they do stick with this approach throughout the book, apart from chapters 5, 7, and 8 (see below).