Dreaming of fat maps

Eau Claire County in Wisconsin USA is a typical case of the increasing use of mapping to identify trends in neighbourhoods which can lead to practical action (but could they really have nearly two-thirds of their population overweight or obese? Really?):

To see if there’s a possible connection between obesity and the physical environment, the city is considering making a map showing areas where obesity is high...(and) if these neighborhoods have inadequate recreational amenities, a lack of nutritious food options or other physical barriers to fitness.

A roadblock to creating this map is that local-level data could be hard to come by...

The draft plan states the measure of this would be body-mass-index -- a ratio comparing height to weight. A BMI of 25 to 29.9 is considered overweight, while 30 and above are classified as obese.

A quarter of Eau Claire County residents are obese, according to surveys done between 2000 and 2010 by the Wisconsin Department of Health Services. Another 37 percent of county residents are overweight and 37 percent of county residents have a BMI below 25...

Eau Claire County has the highest proportion of fast food restaurants in Wisconsin.

Restaurants where you can drive-through or get take-out occupied 52 percent of the county’s dining options, according to 2009 data used by CountyHealthRankings.org. During that year, there were 84 places defined as fast food establishments, which includes take-out restaurants, sandwich shops and pizza parlors...

The draft plan suggests that this also is an area, like obesity, where mapping and further research might yield some ideas...

Planning policies enacted by other cities are mentioned, including regulations banning fast food restaurants near schools or writing laws prohibiting drive-through windows...

While Eau Claire residents appear to have no shortage of fast food options, there are parts of the city where healthier food is harder to come by.

The North Side Hill and North River Fronts neighborhoods are part of what the U.S. Department of Agriculture calls a “food desert.”

This means 74 percent of people living there are more than a mile from a supermarket. For purposes of this designation, small grocery stores and convenience stores aren’t counted.

Promoting local foods through year-round farmer’s markets, expanded community gardens and seeking federal nutrition grants to help establish fresh food businesses also are potential policies in the draft plan.