Take down those fences: Dissolving borders in the heartland using GIS

Technology simultaneously moves us forward and holds us back. We know the importance of context, the power of the peer pressure, of norms, policies and practices. On the one hand, we have developed sophisticated software and data sets that allow us to drill down to the neighborhood level for a myriad of statistics. Yet, on the other hand, we continue to operate in boxes. Our infrastructure nearly demands it. Funding sources and government systems create arbitrary boundaries that are often out of synch with the realities of human life.

In Indiana nearly one third of our counties share a border with another state. Indiana residents living along these borders may have more in common with their neighbors in Ohio, Kentucky, Illinois or Michigan than with most other Indiana residents.

The Indiana Prevention Resource Center has taken proactive steps to serve those who live near our state line. This presentation will explain what we have done and why. It will also show the obstacles that make it difficult to accomplish. Data sets and software products are not designed to easily analyze the reality of a radius around an address located near a border.

People flow freely across borders for work and leisure. Unless we address the commonalities and differences that exist across borders, we will fail to deliver optimum prevention and other public health services. The IPRC will show you how we are doing exactly that using available data and GIS software, despite the built in obstacles inherent in these resources.