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Posted by o__lord on June 1, 2005, 3:16 am
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Hi,
I'm writing from a doctors surgery in the UK. I have no experince in
GIS.
We would like to construct a boundary map of our patients from their
postcode data. I'm sure this must be quite a simple and regularly
performed task, but I'm having difficulty finding any reference to it.
How do would we go about doing this, and what would the cost be?
Obviously we're not in the position to spend money on expensive
software for a one off map.
Pointers would be greatfully accepted,
Regards,
Ollie.
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Posted by Paul Cooper on June 1, 2005, 12:07 pm
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On 1 Jun 2005 03:16:53 -0700, o__lord@hotmail.com wrote:
>Hi,
>
>I'm writing from a doctors surgery in the UK. I have no experince in
>GIS.
>
>We would like to construct a boundary map of our patients from their
>postcode data. I'm sure this must be quite a simple and regularly
>performed task, but I'm having difficulty finding any reference to it.
>
>How do would we go about doing this, and what would the cost be?
>Obviously we're not in the position to spend money on expensive
>software for a one off map.
>
>Pointers would be greatfully accepted,
>Regards,
>Ollie.
Dear Ollie,
Postcode boundary data is fairly accessible, but I am afraid it isn't
free. A Google search will find several suppliers - as my main field
of work is in Antarctica I can't recommend a particular one! Ordnance
survey provide point locations for postcode units, and this may suit
your requirements better. If you only need data from a relatively
small area, it may not be too expensive. It is also possible that your
parent primary care trust may be able to help with this data.
Software is another matter, but pretty well any GIS software will do
the job! Prices vary from free (try www.freegis.org for ideas at this
end) to lots (ArcGIS, MAPINFO.........). I'd ask around the medical
profession to find out if anyone else near you is doing this sort of
thing - they may have relevant recommendations.
If I were doing this I'd seriously consider storing your data in
PosGIS, and visualizing it using a map server (e.g. Geoserver) kept
behind your firewall on your intranet. That way anyone on your
internal network could view the data without having to install heavy
software on each PC, and you could levearge any data held in other
databases within the practice. However, if you are not confident in
the technologies involved, this may not be an option for you.
What you want to do is certainly possible, and I hope you find this
helpful.
Paul Cooper
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Posted by PJ Halls on June 2, 2005, 12:33 pm
Please log in for more thread options Ollie,
what you wish to do is interesting but, as Paul Cooper has
commented, not 'free' to do.
I think that there are two possible ways of approaching this:
1) explore the idea with your local PHO (Public Health Observatory) -
these have recently been or are being relocated into universities in
order to give them an experienced base to enable them to explore
concepts like this;
2) explore the idea with your local university. You have, and probably
very properly, given no indication of your geographic location, so it is
hard to say more than this here. University researchers are used to
collaborating with people who have to work with sensitive information
and maintaining that sensitivity; they are often also able to assist in
areas where the owner of the information has no access to additional
information that would enhance the 'value' or 'meaning' of that data.
One example of the latter would be working with multiple agencies,
preserving the originators' sensitive data yet sharing results based
upon the integration of these data where none of the individual agencies
could have been permitted access to the others' data.
If you wish to explore these ideas further, offline so that we can
satisfy ourselves that we are dealing with the person we believe we are,
then feel free to email me direct on (space free) P . Halls @ york . ac
.. uk ... I can probably identify an appropriate contact for you in your
local institution.
o__lord@hotmail.com wrote:
>
> Hi,
>
> I'm writing from a doctors surgery in the UK. I have no experince in
> GIS.
>
> We would like to construct a boundary map of our patients from their
> postcode data. I'm sure this must be quite a simple and regularly
> performed task, but I'm having difficulty finding any reference to it.
>
> How do would we go about doing this, and what would the cost be?
> Obviously we're not in the position to spend money on expensive
> software for a one off map.
>
> Pointers would be greatfully accepted,
> Regards,
> Ollie.
Best wishes,
Peter
-----------------------------------------------------------------------Peter
Halls - University of York - GIS Advisor
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Posted by Gregsd on June 6, 2005, 11:23 am
Please log in for more thread options Ollie,
Might be worth getting someone else to do it for you, espically if it's
a one-off job. Have look at:
www.mapmarketing.com
www.overviewmapping.com
www.xyzmaps.com
The Society of Cartographers also has a email list that you could post
something to http://www.soc.org.uk/
HTH
Greg Driver.
o__lord@hotmail.com wrote:
> Hi,
>
> I'm writing from a doctors surgery in the UK. I have no experince in
> GIS.
>
> We would like to construct a boundary map of our patients from their
> postcode data. I'm sure this must be quite a simple and regularly
> performed task, but I'm having difficulty finding any reference to it.
>
> How do would we go about doing this, and what would the cost be?
> Obviously we're not in the position to spend money on expensive
> software for a one off map.
>
> Pointers would be greatfully accepted,
> Regards,
> Ollie.
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