Health Atlas: Tutorial of a Visualization Tool and Data Resource for Place-Based Social and Structural Determinants of Health.

Authors

Debora L Oh, Kathryn E Kemper-McIsaac, Dan Meltzer, Eric Brelsford, Kelsey Taylor, Dhananjay Vinay Dixit, Andrea Nickerson, Riya Desai, Salma Shariff-Marco, Courtney Lyles, Scarlett Gomez, Mark J Pletcher, Mindy C DeRouen

Published in

Journal of medical Internet research. Volume 28. Pages e89065. Jul 09, 2026. Epub Jul 09, 2026.

Abstract

Places have a significant impact on health. Thus, examining place-based structural and social determinants can help inform effective public health interventions. HealthAtlas.ucsf.edu provides a single online platform to explore multiple domains of place-based data. The initial California-only version of Health Atlas was launched in April 2020, and a national version was launched in October 2024. An artificial intelligence-assisted search function was integrated in January 2026. Health Atlas includes data on over 200 variables across 5 topical domains: demographics, socioeconomic, neighborhood, environment, and health and health care. The data were either (1) obtained from the American Community Survey, CDC PLACES, and other public sources or (2) obtained through collaboration with research partners. Users can visualize and aggregate data for 7 geographic levels: census tract, zip code tabulation area, county, congressional district, core-based statistical area, public use microdata area, and state. Most variables are available across all 50 states in the United States, the District of Columbia, and Puerto Rico. Users can explore Health Atlas to better understand the relationship between selected variables via maps, histograms, scatterplots, and summary plots. Users can select custom areas to suit specific needs. Customizable datasets can be downloaded for further use. Health Atlas provides freely available, user-friendly data and tools to support researchers, community organizations, government entities, and other public health professionals. We envision that Health Atlas will contribute to evidence-based, community-based initiatives; impactful health equity research; and effective public health programs.

PMID:
42424556
Bibliographic data and abstract were imported from PubMed on 10 Jul 2026.

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