Application of geographic information system (GIS) in Iraqi family medicine practice

The aim of the study is to build a data base system to selected family medicine primary health centers in Baghdad by using GIS properties. A typical GIS implementation using the Arc Info Coverage data format consists of three phases: data conversion specification, data migrate on, and application development, accordingly, data was collected from 4 family medicine primary health centers consisting of demographic information, man power and population covered. Data was used in forms of tables and maps, these maps contain three of cartographic elements:  The districts parcels layer, the town shape parcels layer and the health control centers layer. After creating the geographic layers, the attribute tables which contain data related to every feature in the layers and the fields which represent different properties were built, depending on the nature of the layer and the amount of data available. After the layers are drawn and the attributes tables filled, the map is ready for further spatial analysis. One of the basic functions in ArcMap™ application is the Identify function, it allows for quick display of the attributes of a single element on the map, whether a line or a point. Reducing operational cost, data redundancy, increasing data integration and efficiency, automated the analysis process, and accessing the information in the facility management are some of the goals of operation distribution/collection system.   Key word: Geographic information system, (GIS).