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  • More Than Mapping: Improvin...
    Shannon, Jerry; Reese, Ashantè M; Ghosh, Debarchana; Widener, Michael J; Block, Daniel R

    American journal of public health, 08/2021, Letnik: 111, Številka: 8
    Journal Article

    Geospatial analyses of food environments-neighborhood food sources such as supermarkets, corner stores, restaurants, or food pantries-and their impacts on dietary health have become commonplace over the past 25 years. Early research varied in approach. One key article in 2002 advocated a range of methods ranging from focus groups to policy analysis.1 Yet, as spatial data and geographic information systems (GIS) software became widely available to researchers and practitioners across the social sciences, public health, and medicine, mapping and geospatial analysis have been the predominant methods. One review published in 2012 found that 53% of published research on the food environment used geospatial analysis, "by far the most common way to measure the food environment."2(p1175) Another review from 2017 found that 49.6% of articles in this area included geospatial analysis before 2007.3 From 2007 through 2015, that percentage increased to 65.3%.3The use of mapping to analyze the food environment has clear benefits. Maps are often intuitively understood by both policymakers and the general public. They suggest a clear path for intervention, highlighting the neighborhoods most often excluded from capital investment. Maps are also affectively powerful, offering striking visuals of disparities in ways that motivate political action. The authors of this article have all taken part in research that uses geospatial analysis to identify areas with low access to healthy foods, and we see value in this approach. Spatial proximity is a key determinant of food access, and maps provide a useful tool for research in this area.