State Health Data and ArcGIS Online

This tutorial covers the downloading of state health data for visualization in ArcGIS Online.

All US states have departments of public health (under a variety of names) that maintain vital records and illness data as a part of their mission to promote good health in their state. All of those departments make some of that data available for download through their websites.

However, publicly-available geospatial data is often made available in formats (like PDF or CSV files) that require additional (often tedious) processing to import into GIS software for analysis and visualization.

Although the exact formats (and associated processing specifics) will differ between states, agencies within departments, and health conditions, the examples below show the general basics on processing county-level data from different formats .

If your state makes its spatial health data available in some format, you can usually find it by Googling <statename> gis health data.

Feature Services

If you are lucky, the state may make the health data you need available through a geospatial data portal like ArcGIS Hub. In such cases, you can get the data through an API URL that allows ArcGIS Online to connect directly to a service provided by the server with no additional processing needed on your part.

You may be able to find such portals by Googling "<name_of_state> GIS data." This example uses asthma emergency room visits by county in California in 2012.

Find the APIs link and copy the GeoService
Create a new Map in ArcGIS Online
Add -> Add Layer from Web with An ArcGIS Server Web Service and use the GeoService URL copied from the data portal
Remove query? and everything after it from the URL
Add Layer. You may need to click the button twice
Style the layer based on the attribute you wish to display using an appropriate color ramp
Save the map under a meaningful name and Share the map to get a link

Creating a Map From a Service

Shapefile

Geospatial data portals also sometimes make data available as Shapefiles, which are an old format from the 1990s usually distributed as a .zip file. These files are also sometimes made available through links to static files.

You may be able to find such portals by Googling "<name_of_state> health shapefiles" This example again uses asthma emergency room visits by county in California in 2012.

Download the shapefile to your hard drive
Create a new Map in ArcGIS Online
Add -> Add Layer from File, Browse to select the .zip shapefile, and Import Layer
Style the layer based on the attribute you wish to display using an appropriate color ramp
Save the map under a meaningful name and Share the map to get a link

Creating a Map From a Shapefile

Data Portal CSV Export

Health data is often made available through data portals that allow selection of specific health conditions, time periods, and demographic groups. This data can usually be exported as comma-separated-variable (.csv) files that can then be imported into ArcGIS Online after some additional processing.

To import county-level data into ArcGIS Online, you will need to edit your CSV file so it has the following characteristics:

Column names in the top row
A county name column
A state name column (the same for all rows)
A rate column, preferably named after the health condition you are mapping
The rate column should contain only numbers. Remove other symbols like percent signs, asterisks, etc.
Clear all other columns in the file except the data specified above

This example uses chlamydia rates by county from the Georgia Department of Public Health.

Select the appropriate health condition, time period, and demographic groups in the data portal
Download the data as a .csv file. The link to do this may have a name like Export, Table, or, in this case, Download
You may also have multiple download options. CSV is usually the best choice, although in this case, that option is titled Crosstab
Open the .csv file in a spreadsheet program
Remove extraneous rows and columns
If the data is panel data covering multiple years, remove all years except the one you want to display
Remove text from data column. Having anything except numbers or blanks in the attribute column will cause ArcGIS Online to treat the attribute as text and you will be unable to visualize it as numeric data
Add a State column. Different states often have counties with the same names, so this column indicates to ArcGIS Online which set of county names to use when geocoding locations
Download as comma-separated values to your hard drive
Create a new Map in ArcGIS Online
Add -> Add Layer from File, Browse to select the .csv file, and Import Layer
When asked about Location columns, make sure the state column is listed as State and county column is listed as County
Style the layer based on the attribute you wish to display using an appropriate color ramp
Save the map under a meaningful name and Share the map to get a link

Creating a Map From a CSV file

PDF

The least desirable option is when geospatial data is only available as tables in PDF reports designed for printing. In some cases you may be able to copy and paste the text from the report into a spreadsheet, but often you will need to manually type the data into a spreadsheet, which is tedious, time consuming, and error-prone, but will often be your only option.

Make sure to spell the location names correctly. If using counties or cities, also make sure to add a State column so ArcGIS Online knows how to geocode the specific cities in that state.

Once you have created the spreadsheet, export it to a .csv file and the procedures are the same as those above with downloaded CSV files.

The following example uses chlamydia rates published in the Maryland Department of Health's 2018 Maryland STI Annual Report.

Find the table in the PDF file
Create a new spreadsheet in an spreadsheet program or Google Sheets
Add headers to indicate what the columns contain
Type in the names of the locations and the data
If mapping counties or cities, add a State column. Different states often have counties with the same names, so this column indicates to ArcGIS Online which set of county names to use when geocoding locations
Download as comma-separated values to your hard drive
Create a new Map in ArcGIS Online
Add -> Add Layer from File, Browse to select the .csv file, and Import Layer
When asked about Location columns, make sure the state column is listed as State and county column is listed as County
Style the layer based on the attribute you wish to display using an appropriate color ramp
Save the map under a meaningful name and Share the map to get a link

Creating a Map From a CSV file

Creating a Choropleth From a Graduated Bubble Map

Add a layer containing the areas you wish to color as a choropleth. With this example we use a layer of county polygons from the US Census Bureau in the FSC organization called TIGER County Cartographic Boundary File
Perform Analysis -> Join Features
The target layer is the layer of polygons you want to color. The layer to join is the layer containing the data that you will use to color the polygons
The type(s) of join is Choose a spatial relationship -> intersects
Give the Result layer name a meaningful name
Click off Use current map extent
Show credits to make sure you aren't doing something wrong that will use up your credit quota. This should be under five
Run Analysis. This may take a few minutes
Hide all the other layers
Style the layer based on the attribute you wish to display using an appropriate color ramp
Save the map under a meaningful name and Share the map to get a link

Creating a Choropleth From a Graduated Bubble Map

Appendix: State Health Department Websites and Data Portals

California

Department of Public Health: https://www.cdph.ca.gov/

Vital statistics: https://www.cdph.ca.gov/Programs/CHSI/Pages/County-Health-Status-Profiles.aspx

Data Portal (Socrata): https://data.chhs.ca.gov/

Infectious Diseases (Socrata CSV Panel Data): https://data.chhs.ca.gov/dataset/infectious-disease

Illinois

Illinois Department of Public Health: http://www.dph.illinois.gov/

Vital Statistics: http://www.dph.illinois.gov/data-statistics/vital-statistics/death-statistics/more-statistics

Data Portal: https://data.illinois.gov/

STDs (Data portal CSV): https://data.illinois.gov/dataset/453idph_std_illinois_by_county_rank

Texas

Texas Department of State Health Services: https://www.dshs.texas.gov/

Texas Health Data: http://healthdata.dshs.texas.gov/Home

STDs (Select crosstab to download CSV): http://healthdata.dshs.texas.gov/InfectiousDisease/STD

Pennsylvania

Pennsylvania Department of Health: https://www.health.pa.gov/Pages/default.aspx

Health Statistics: https://www.health.pa.gov/topics/HealthStatistics/Pages/health-statistics.aspx

EDDIE (STD HTML Table export to Excel): https://www.phaim1.health.pa.gov/EDD/

Florida

The Florida Department of Health: http://www.floridahealth.gov/

Statistics and Data: http://www.floridahealth.gov/statistics-and-data/

Florida Health Charts (Portal to download CSV - STDs): http://www.flhealthcharts.com/charts/default.aspx

Georgia

Georgia Department of Public Health: https://dph.georgia.gov/

Online Analytical Statistical Information System: https://oasis.state.ga.us/

STDs (portal): https://oasis.state.ga.us/gis/TrendableMaps/agsSTDTrend.aspx

Massachusetts

Department of Public Health: https://www.mass.gov/orgs/department-of-public-health

MassData: https://opendata.digital.mass.gov/

STD Data (graphics only): https://www.mass.gov/lists/std-data-and-reports#data-from-massachusetts-

STD Data (CDC portal): https://www.cdc.gov/nchhstp/atlas/index.htm

Arizona

Arizona Department of Health Services: https://www.azdhs.gov/

Public Health Statistics: https://www.azdhs.gov/preparedness/public-health-statistics/index.php

Data Portal (Community Profiles Dashboard - manual copy to CSV): https://www.azdhs.gov/gis/community-profiles-dashboard/index.php

STDs (annotated graphics and PDF tables): https://www.azdhs.gov/preparedness/epidemiology-disease-control/disease-integration-services/std-control/index.php

Michigan

Michigan Department of Health and Human Services: https://www.michigan.gov/mdhhs

Health Statistics and Reports: https://www.michigan.gov/mdhhs/0,5885,7-339-73970_2944---,00.html

STDs (portal CSV): https://www.mdch.state.mi.us/OSR/chi/STD/frame.html

Washington State

Washington State Department of Health: https://www.doh.wa.gov/

Data and Statistical Reports: https://www.doh.wa.gov/DataandStatisticalReports

STDs (PDF): https://www.doh.wa.gov/YouandYourFamily/IllnessandDisease/SexuallyTransmittedDisease

Minnesota

Minnesota Department of Health: https://www.health.state.mn.us/

Colorado

Colorado Department of Public Health and the Environment: https://www.colorado.gov/cdphe

Data: https://www.colorado.gov/pacific/cdphe/data

CDPHE Open Data (ArcGIS services): https://data-cdphe.opendata.arcgis.com/

STDs (PDF): https://www.colorado.gov/pacific/cdphe/sti-hiv-data

Missouri

Missouri Department of Health and Senior Services: https://health.mo.gov/

Data, Surveillance Systems & Statistical Reports: https://health.mo.gov/data/

STDs (no county data?): https://health.mo.gov/data/stdsurveillance/index.php

Maryland

Maryland Department of Health: https://health.maryland.gov/pages/home.aspx

DHMH Health Data: https://health.maryland.gov/DATA/Pages/home.aspx

STDs (PDF table): https://phpa.health.maryland.gov/OIDPCS/CSTIP/Pages/STI-Data-Statistics.aspx

https://phpa.health.maryland.gov/OIDPCS/CSTIP/CSTIPDocuments/Reports/STI%202018%20Annual%20Report%20Maryland.pdf

North Carolina

North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services: https://www.ncdhhs.gov/

North Carolina State Center for Health Statistics: https://schs.dph.ncdhhs.gov/data/

STDs (PDF): https://epi.dph.ncdhhs.gov/cd/stds/figures.html

https://epi.dph.ncdhhs.gov/cd/stds/figures/std17rpt_rev12142018.pdf

Oregon

Oregon Health Authority: https://www.oregon.gov/oha/ph/pages/index.aspx

Data and Statistics: https://www.oregon.gov/oha/PH/DATASTATISTICS/Pages/index.aspx

STDs (PDF): https://www.oregon.gov/oha/PH/DISEASESCONDITIONS/COMMUNICABLEDISEASE/DISEASESURVEILLANCEDATA/STD/Pages/index.aspx