GIS maps to communicate emergency preparedness: How useable are they for inner city residents?

Despite the growing popularity of Geographic Information System (GIS) information maps as a public health tool, there are no published studies of low-average and low literacy adults' abilities to read and use GIS information presenting emergency preparedness information. We hypothesized that GIS maps are hard to read for at least the 50% of adults in the US reading at 8th grade level or lower (Kirsch et al., 1993). Using a current GIS map used in New York City's Office of Emergency Management Storm Surge Report researchers conducted interviews with 178 English and Spanish speaking residents of East and Central Harlem. Findings reveal that a majority of adults who have not completed high school could not read and use the maps for basic and vital information, including identifying if they lived in a hurricane evacuation zone, and locating where the nearest evacuation center to their home was. This study concludes there is a real and dangerous gap between the language and design of GIS and the abilities of millions of adults to interpret and use this information as currently presented.