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Marie Lynn Miranda, PhD, Jennifer M. Silva, MS, M. Alicia Overstreet Galeano, BS, Jeffrey P. Brown, MCRP, Douglas S. Campbell, MD, MPH, Evelyn Coley, RN, MSA, Christopher S. Cowan, BS, Dianne Harvell, REHS, RS, Jenny Lassiter, RN, MSN, Jerry L. Parks, MPH and Wanda Sandelé, MBA

Marie Lynn Miranda and M. Alicia Overstreet Galeano are with the Nicholas School of the Environment and Earth Sciences, Duke University, Durham, NC. Jeffrey P. Brown is with the North Carolina Center for Geographic Information and Analysis, Raleigh. Douglas S. Campbell is with the Occupational and Environmental Epidemiology Branch of the Division of Public Health, North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services, Raleigh. Evelyn Coley and Christopher S. Cowan are with the Wayne County Health Department, Goldsboro, NC. Dianne Harvell is with the New Hanover County Health Department, Wilmington, NC. Jenny Lassiter is with the Pamlico County Health Department, Bayboro, NC. Jerry L. Parks is with Albemarle Regional Health Services, Elizabeth City. NC. Wanda Sandelé is with the Craven County Health Department, New Bern, NC. At the time of the project, Jennifer M. Silva was with the Nicholas School of the Environment and Earth Sciences, Duke University, Durham.

Correspondence: Requests for reprints should be sent to Marie Lynn Miranda, PhD, Children’s Environmental Health Initiative, Nicholas School of the Environment and Earth Sciences, Duke University, Box 90328, Durham, NC 27708 (e-mail: mmiranda{at}duke.edu).

State government, university, and local health department (LHD) partners collaborated to build the geographic information system (GIS) capacity of 5 LHDs in North Carolina. Project elements included procuring hardware and software, conducting individualized and group training, developing data layers, guiding the project development process, coordinating participation in technical conferences, providing ongoing project consultation, and evaluating project milestones. The project provided health department personnel with the skills and resources required to use sophisticated information management systems, particularly those that address spatial dimensions of public health practice.

This capacity-building project helped LHDs incorporate GIS technology into daily operations, resulting in improved time and cost efficiency. Keys to success included (1) methods training rooted in problems specific to the LHD, (2) required project identification by LHD staff with associated timelines for development, (3) ongoing technical support as staff returned to home offices after training, (4) subgrants to LHDs to ease hardware and software resource constraints, (5) networks of relationships among LHDs and other professional GIS users, and (6) senior LHD leadership who supported the professional development activities being undertaken by staff.

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