Geography Reference
In-Depth Information
toilet can serve as a proxy for data on whether or not the cohort mem-
ber's home had a toilet. The other reason is that some factors, such as
pollution, are inherently area based. For example, in an analysis of the
determinants of individual-level infant mortality as recorded by the spe-
cial fertility survey within the 1911 census, Eilidh Garret and colleagues
found that children in certain types of occupationally specialized com-
munities had higher mortality rates, even when fully controlling for pa-
rental occupations: the children of teachers in mining communities were
more likely to die in infancy than the children of teachers elsewhere. 11
Our analysis of the NSHD has shown that growing up in areas with a high
percentage of the population in a low social class significantly impacts
physical capacity in later life. 12
Our work with the NSHD is continuing and means we are work-
ing closely with geneticists and historians of nutrition. Directly parallel
research may not be possible in all countries, as it depends on the exis-
tence of these major individual-level longitudinal studies. However, a
general precondition for HGIS to contribute to medical or demographic
research, as distinct from the history of medicine or historical demog-
raphy, is that it must construct a continuous narrative of geographical
change coming up to the present. Most British historical demographers,
including those using GIS-based techniques, stop in 1911, when demo-
graphic reporting stopped using the relatively simple system of registra-
tion districts. 13 Conversely, much of our work has focused on the subse-
quent system of local government districts used up to 1974, and our data
holdings come right up to the present. Our work on the Longitudinal
Study was possible only because we had reconstructed the very complex
history of changes to local government districts during the 1930s.
Archives and “Name Authorities”
It is unlikely that any academic seeking to develop lucrative lines of con-
tract research would choose the archives sector, and few archivists would
claim much knowledge of GIS. However, the largest single grant for the
development of the Great Britain HGIS, from the UK National Lotery,
was possible only through support from the archives sector. Our first
steps toward building a multinational HGIS were funded by the Euro-
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