Open data for spatial public health research

Background

Preventive and health-promoting policies can guide (place and space-specific) factors influencing human health, such as the physical and social environment. Required is data that can lead to a more nuanced decision-making process and identify both, existing and future challenges. Along with the rise of new technologies, and thus the multiple opportunities to use and process data, new options have emerged to measure and monitor factors that affect health. Thus, in recent years, several gateways for open data (including governmental and geospatial data) became available. At present, an increasing number of research institutions as well as (state and private) companies and citizens' initiatives provide data. However, there is a lack of overviews covering the range of such offerings regarding health. In particular, for geographically differentiated analyses, there are challenges related to data availability at different spatial levels and the growing number of data providers.

Objectives

To provide an overview of open data resources available in the context of space and health to date. It also describes the technical and legal conditions for using open data

Results

An up-to-date summary of results including information on relevant data access and terms of use is provided along with a web visualization. All data is available for further use under an open license.

Methods
The selection of relevant explanatory determinants is based on theoretical models. Since the aim of the project is to capture current practice initiatives and hardly any scientific research is available for this context so far, availability of relevant data is examined using a simple web search (Google) and complemented by reviewing references on relevant websites as well as in catalogs and data portals. Based on a snapshot of the current situation, data sources are identified and classified according to theoretical dimensions following a definitional introduction to OD and a description of the conceptual framework. For this purpose, existing freely available datasets (e.g., web visualizations), have been adapted and extended to the new topic.