We are thrilled to announce a significant achievement by one of our own: Priyanka Vyas, a dedicated member of the CGIA board, has published her first book, “GIS Mapping for Community Health and Development: A Toolkit for Policymakers and Practitioners.” The book was officially launched by Routledge on September 19, 2025.
The book is an invaluable resource for anyone who uses maps for decision-making or policy analysis. It is aimed at a wide range of professionals in program planning, evaluation, and policy, as well as students.
In an era where web-maps and web-GIS dashboards are a common tool for making policy decisions, the book provides a crucial toolkit for understanding how to critique a map and ask the right questions. It helps readers go beyond the story a map is telling to understand what it might be concealing. The book highlights these insights with numerous examples of maps and dashboards from prominent government websites, media, and non-profit organizations.
Priyanka has proposed the idea of hosting a webinar or a workshop to engage a new audience of public health professionals, public policy organizations, and non-profits. We believe this is a great opportunity to demonstrate how GIS can be a powerful tool to advance political and policy agendas. We will be discussing this exciting possibility at an upcoming board meeting.
Please join us in celebrating Priyanka’s accomplishment! We are incredibly proud to have such a dedicated and knowledgeable member in our community.
Discount code here: GIS Mapping for Community Health and Development