• Spatial Information Research
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• v.12 no.2
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• pp.193-209
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• 2004

The purpose of this study is to analyze the service area of emergency medical centers using GIS-based spatial analysis methods in Seoul, focusing on the behaviour of patients on the choosing of emergency centers. For this analysis, six emergency centers were selected to collect data for the information on the addresses of patients from September to November hi 2003. Analysis on the service area, which was carried out by measuring the distribution of patients in terms of distance from emergency medical centers, clearly reveals that the majority of patients was located within or adjacent districts at the emergency medical center. However, the size of the primary service area f3r six emergency medical centers was much different, implying that the decision to visit specific emergency medical center by patients was closely related to the size, perception, and preference of the emergency medical center. Based on the results of the spatial characteristics of emergency medical service area, this research tries to construct the surface map of the emergency medical service level supplied by 32 regional emergency medical centers located in Seoul. Considering the levels of infrastructure for emergency medical centers, the coverage for the degree of supply of emergency medical service by each emergency medical center was constructed in terms of a distance decaying in the distribution of patients from emergency medical center imposing different weights on distance bands. Spatial overlay utilizing map algebra function was performed in order to calculate total supply level of emergency service. The results clearly show that spatial inequality exists in the supply levels of the emergency medical service among local areas of Seoul.