GIS applications for community-based research and action: mapping change in a community-building initiative.

In this article we review practical and research applications for the use of geographic information systems (GIS) in the program development and evaluation of a community-building initiative designed to improve economic and educational outcomes in a Midwestern city. We discuss the use of GIS for targeting neighborhoods for program selection, random selection of survey respondents, verification of stratification and representativeness of survey samples, and linking survey data to data regarding physical and demographic characteristics of the community. We explore the benefits and challenges of using GIS with community audiences and highlight additional quantitative analysis tools for future use in this ongoing initiative.