MANSFIELD, Ohio — Mansfield and surrounding communities can see the varying rates of obesity affecting the local population using RTI International’s Neighborhood Map of U.S. Obesity.
Created entirely from public, government data sources, the Neighborhood Map of U.S. Obesity shows the percent of the adult population that is obese, the difference in the percent of population that is obese compared to the national average, and the statistically significant clusters of obesity, according to an RTI press release.
The color-coded map, which was runner-up in the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services’ recent U.S. Obesity Data Challenge, combines obesity data with a geographic information system database to show localized obesity data for every 250 meters nationwide, the press release states. The warmer the color, the higher the level of obesity.
The maps show Richland, Ashland, and Crawford County communities have mixed obesity rates.
According to stateofobesity.org, Ohio has the eighth highest adult obesity rate in the nation at 32.6 percent. Arkansas has the highest adult obesity rate at 35.9 percent, while Colorado has the lowest at 21.3 percent. The data also shows 23 of 25 states with the highest rates of obesity are in the South and Midwest.
Adult obesity can be described as weight that is higher than what is considered healthy for a given height, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention website.
The CDC website notes that more than one-third (34.9 percent or 78.6 million) of U.S. adults are obese. RTI hopes to help reduce that number.
In an effort to promote positive change, the organization made the data in the Neighborhood Map of U.S. Obesity in a GIS format, thereby allowing users to download and bring this layer into their own GIS websites and tools.
“After downloading the data, communities can overlay their own data such as locations of food retailers, restaurants, parks, walking paths, farmers’ markets, and healthy food outlets on the obesity mapping data. These map-based mashups will supplement their place-based work so they can target the neighborhoods where obesity is most likely and, therefore, they can be most efficient with limited resources,” RTI wrote.
Bill Wheaton, director of RTI’s Geospatial Science and Technology Program, said, “Working with our federal and university partners to convert these data into decisions and policies that reduce obesity is our number one priority. We hope to build on and extend this work by doing a similar analysis, but with children as the focus.
“We would also like to add additional geospatial data sources to the site such as healthy food outlets, farmers markets, food deserts and other layers that help explain some of the limitations in access to healthy food.”