Building Marketing Strategies for the Palm Beach Chapter of the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society Using Geographic Information Systems Technology

Authors

  • Anhar Sarsour Geomatics Engineering Program, Department of Civil, Environmental and Geomatics Engineering College of Engineering & Computer Science, Florida Atlantic University
  • Eric Llufrio Geomatics Engineering Program, Department of Civil, Environmental and Geomatics Engineering College of Engineering & Computer Science, Florida Atlantic University
  • Donald J. Leone Faculty Geomatics Engineering Program, Department of Civil, Environmental and Geomatics Engineering College of Engineering & Computer Science, Florida Atlantic University

Abstract

The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society (LLS) is the world’s largest voluntary health agency dedicated to curing blood cancer. The Palm Beach Chapter requested our assistance in organizing its membership data to help in advertising efforts. We concentrated on the LLS program - Team in Training (TNT) - the world’s largest endurance sports training program and the number one fundraising arm of LLS. Since TNT relies on participants to raise funds for their cause, our goal in this project was to assist LLS in enhancing the effectiveness of their advertising efforts using Geographic Information System (GIS) technology. GIS is a helpful mapping tool that stores, manages, and analyzes geospatial data.

LLS Excel spreadsheet membership data was linked to a second set of geospatial data in a GIS obtained from the Florida Geographic Data Library (FGDL) for the study area encompassing parts of Palm Beach, Martin, and St. Lucie counties. The two sets of data were linked using the common parameter of zip code numbers. The software, ArcGIS, was used to create fifteen GIS maps showing the geographical distribution of such parameters as the number of participants, percentage of participants to the total number of participants, median age, and mean income for each zip code. Color coding shows areas (zip codes) where there are higher concentrations of participants, leads, etc., as well as the characteristics of these areas. Selected analyses of the maps showed that simple marketing strategies could be constructed.

Author Biography

Donald J. Leone, Faculty Geomatics Engineering Program, Department of Civil, Environmental and Geomatics Engineering College of Engineering & Computer Science, Florida Atlantic University

Dr. Donald LeoneFAU, Civil, Environmental and Geomatics Engineering777 Glades Road, EG 36/Rm 231Boca Raton, FL, 33431Tel: 561.297.2658, Fax: 561.297.0493dleone@fau.edu

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Published

2014-03-18

Issue

Vol. 3 (2014): FAU Undergraduate Research Journal

Section

Articles

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