Teaching Poverty With Geographic Visualization and Geographic Information Systems (GIS): A Case Study of East Buffalo and Food Access

Abstract

Although various methods have been used to teach about poverty in the social work classroom (e.g., quantitative, historical, and qualitative), the use of geographic visualization and geographic information systems (GIS) has become a relatively new method. In our analysis of food access on the East Side of Buffalo, New York, we demonstrate the unequal access that predominately African American areas of Buffalo have to grocery stores when compared to communities with a smaller proportion of African American residents. We attempt to demonstrate how geovisualization can be used to teach poverty to social work students differently than traditional methods. We note three specific advantages for its use in teaching about poverty. First, spatial information encourages ecological and systems thinking. Second, geovisualization can aid social workers in identifying specific community needs to stakeholders, because maps are accessible and easily understood. Finally, new GIS technologies are accessible to the student and may require less sophisticated and esoteric training.

KEYWORDS:

• GIS
• poverty
• food deserts