Research Article Using GIS and Dispersion Modelling Tools to Assess the Effect of the Environment on Health Helen Crabbe Ron Hamilton Urban Pollution Research Centre Urban Pollution Research Centre School of Health Biological and School of Health Biological and Environmental Science Environmental Science Middlesex University Middlesex University Nuria Machin Urban Pollution Research Centre School of Health Biological and Environmental Science Middlesex University Abstract A feasibility study in progress to integrate health and air quality information is presented. The methods of using integrated GIS and air quality dispersion modelling tools to assess the effect of the environment on health are discussed. The main aim is to model human personal exposure to air pollutants and compare the predictions to respiratory health data for asthmatics in a health telematics project. The MEDICATE project develops and tests the feasibility of using a health telematic system for asthmatics. Key to this is the determination of the real-time health (lung function) response to the ambient environment. For this, air quality information is related to respiratory measurements by modelling personal exposure through a GIS. The methods of integrating environmental modelling and assessment tools (GIS) in this case are examined. ESRI's ArcView is used to locate and compile environmental information about the patients' locations and lifestyles in the study areas (London and Barcelona). A dispersion modelling extension to ArcView, ADMS Urban, is used to interrogate the spatial environmental databases (e.g. emission inventories) to model air pollution concentrations. Patients' personal exposure is modelled by time- Transactions in GIS, 2000, 4(3): 235±244 ß 2000 Blackwell Publishers, 108 Cowley Road, Oxford OX4 1JF, UK and 350 Main Street, Malden, MA 02148, USA. Address for correspondence: Helen Crabbe, Urban Pollution Research Centre, School of Health, Biological and Environmental Science, Middlesex University, Bounds Green Road, London N11 2NQ, UK. E-mail: h.crabbe@mdx.ac.uk