Alcohol and Other Drugs

Reducing Underage Drinking: Policy and Environmental Change -- Alcohol Outlet Density

Liquorlining: Liquor Store Concentration and Community Development in Lower-Income Cook County Neighborhoods (PDF) ­
This document describes the environment, impact, options for change and outcomes regarding alcohol outlet concentration in neighborhoods in Cook County, Illinois. Attention: Non-MDH link

Alcohol Outlet Facts­This fact sheet describes findings from studies that explored the relationships between alcohol outlet density and various types of crime, homicide, assault, college binge drinking, economic and social disintegration, and motor vehicle crash injuries. An extensive reference list is included for further reading. Attention: Non-MDH link

GIS/Mapping Systems

GIS is the acronym for “geographic information systems.” Those three words give a good description of what GIS is ­ a system for collecting and analyzing information based on geography. GIS brings data together from different sources, and ties the data to a geographic map. It’s becoming more common to see GIS used in a variety of disciplines. It is commonly used to map crime and violence data, to map mosquito-breeding areas, to track the spread of invasive plant species, and to inform new automobile navigation systems.

So, how does GIS relate to alcohol outlet density?

Because much data has a geographic component, GIS can be used to literally plot data on a map. Databases of addresses with liquor licenses can be plotted on a map using GIS, to show the geographic distribution of alcohol sales outlets in a community.

This distribution can be compared to locations of other establishments, for example, schools or children’s playgrounds combined with common children’s walking routes.

Alcohol data plotted on GIS can be combined with other data plotted on GIS, such as crime or violence data, or demographic and economic indicators. By doing this, you would be able to see the spatial distribution of this data, and any spatial relationships between them.

For example, GIS has been used to pinpoint police encounters involving alcohol and other drugs. Attention: Non-MDH link

One potential use for GIS during needs assessment is to help target limited prevention resources to geographic areas of greatest need. GIS can connect data to the neighborhood level, which is helpful to community-based prevention. Many county governments and larger townships and cities may already have GIS in-house, due to its use with zoning and planning.