Issue link: https://geospatial.trimble.com/en/resources/i/1415423
www.geospatialworld.net | May-June 2020 43 map the spread, but to figure out the aetiology of the fatal disease. Although limited to a specific region, Haviland's work sparked a series of studies and reports that identified an increasing incidence of different forms of cancer in the UK, with some of the cases connected to specific biogeographies. Soon, those reports led to similar studies across the Commonwealth and elsewhere, transforming anomalous regional incidence into a global health DR ALFRED HAVILAND (1824-1903) is map by Dr Aled Haviland highlights bimodal depiction of cancer with orange color indicating the least medical hazard and grey color indicating the highest is picture depicts cancer cases in the mid 19 th Century concern — the cancer epi- demic. e challenge was to identify specific biogeograph- ical profiles that could explain high number of cases in certain towns, districts and regions. In 1975, US Cancer Atlas identified 'hotspots' on the basis of coastal shipyards, whose workers were exposed to asbestos. Elsewhere, high rates could be connected to air pollution from a copper smelter. ese findings highlighted environmental and social variables that seemed to cause cancer. Learning from history Epidemiologists have traditionally used maps to analyze the association between location, environment and disease, and it is a given that good epidemiology science and good geographic information science go hand in hand. Since the SARS outbreak in 2003, the world has seen a revolution in applied geography through web-based tools. Currently, there are umpteen maps and charts to show the alarming spread of COVID-19 and how health infrastructure across countries is under tremendous stress. Location is the basic principle of any field investigation. In case of a global pandemic like COVID-19, the dimension of 'where' becomes more important than 'who' and 'when'. Geospatial tools and data have immense potential in epidemiology, and can help in mapping a disease, procur- ing relevant supplemental data and taking evidence-based decisions. Mahashreveta Choudhary Correspondent mahashreveta@geospatialmedia.net In 1868, Dr Alfred Haviland used a map to advance a biogeographical explana on for higher cancer rates in certain parts of England Courtesy: Brianaltonenmph