Sandra Arlinghaus, Salma Haidar, and Mark Wilson The University of Michigan respectively: Adjunct Professor of Mathematical Geography and Population-Environment Dynamics, School of Natural Resources and Environment and College of Architecture and Urban Planning; Ph.D. Candidate, School of Public Health; Associate Professor, Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology (College of Literature, Science and the Arts) and Department of Epidemiology (School of Public Health) and Director, Global Health Program. |
Cartographic evidence can often be used to find pattern in
large sets
of data that are widely scattered in time and space. Thus, when
co-author
Haidar considered spreadsheets with many thousands of entries, it
seemed
useful to map the data in her quest to look for pattern in incidence of
the disease, Leishmaniasis, in Syria. She wished to view the data
by Syrian province over a period of eight years, on a monthly basis.
(See
Figure 1 for a map of "Syria: By Province.") In that way she
hoped
to be able to see, at a glance, variation in incidence from north to
south
in a seasonal framework. The animated map offered one approach to
that task.
To create the sequence of animated maps below (Figure 2), monthly thematic maps are shaded, in a GIS, according to standard deviations above (red) and below (blue) the mean (white) of data (incidence of Leishmaniasis) for each year. Intervals are 0.25 standard deviations. The deeper the color the farther from the mean. The calendar below the group of maps is also animated to coordinate with the changes in the maps. Thumbnail-sized maps are aligned below to show general contrast in cyclical pattern between north and south and in annual variation of disease incidence. For a more detailed view, click on small maps to see enlarged maps, one at a time. To get the benefit of map coordination, the display must be viewed on a high-speed connection or downloaded and viewed on a CD (for example). |
Figure 1. Provinces of Syria. Source: Community Systems Foundation. |
1990 |
1991 |
1992 |
1993 |
1994 |
1995 |
1996 |
1997 |
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There are a number of questions one might ask, based on
observing this
set of maps. If some of the questions have known answers then
this
display might be calibrated as a "model" after which one might then
consider
other questions with unknown answers. A few natural observations
might be:
|
Animap papers published in previous volumes of Solstice are listed below, and linked to the article, for the interested reader; please also refer to other related articles in the current issue: |