scholarly journals Development of a web-geographical information system application for plotting tuberculosis cases

2021 ◽  
Vol 16 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Nur Adibah Mohidem ◽  
Malina Osman ◽  
Farrah Melissa Muharam ◽  
Saliza Mohd Elias ◽  
Rafiza Shaharudin ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Public Health ◽  
Spatial Data ◽  
Web Application ◽  
Smoking Status ◽  
Google Earth ◽  
Control Measures ◽  
Geographical Information ◽  
Contact Tracing ◽  
Health Clinic ◽  
Income Status

In the last few decades, public health surveillance has increasingly applied statistical methods to analyze the spatial disease distributions. Nevertheless, contact tracing and follow up control measures for tuberculosis (TB) patients remain challenging because public health officers often lack the programming skills needed to utilize the software appropriately. This study aimed to develop a more user-friendly application by applying the CodeIgniter framework for server development, ArcGIS JavaScript for data display and a web application based on JavaScript and Hypertext Preprocessor to build the server’s interface, while a webGIS technology was used for mapping. The performance of this approach was tested based on 3325 TB cases and their sociodemographic data, such as age, gender, race, nationality, country of origin, educational level, employment status, health care worker status, income status, residency status, and smoking status between 1st January 2013 and 31st December 2017 in Gombak, Selangor, Malaysia. These data were collected from the Gombak District Health Office and Rawang Health Clinic. Latitude and longitude of the location for each case was geocoded by uploading spatial data using Google Earth and the main output was an interactive map displaying location of each case. Filters are available for the selection of the various sociodemographic factors of interest. The application developed should assist public health experts to utilize spatial data for the surveillance purposes comprehensively as well as for the drafting of regulations aimed at to reducing mortality and morbidity and thus minimizing the public health impact of the disease.

Portal TB Gombak: Web-Based Application for Plotting of Tuberculosis Cases in Gombak, Selangor, Malaysia

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nur Adibah Mohidem ◽  
Malina Osman ◽  
Farrah Melissa Muharam ◽  
Saliza Mohd Elias ◽  
Rafiza Shaharudin ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Public Health ◽  
Information System ◽  
Programming Languages ◽  
Control Measures ◽  
Contact Tracing ◽  
Healthcare Personnel ◽  
Health Clinic ◽  
Sociodemographic Factor ◽  
Income Status ◽  
Sociodemographic Data

Abstract Background: In the last few decades, public health surveillance has been conducted using various programming languages implementing statistical methods to analyze the spatial distribution of a disease. Nevertheless, contact tracing and follow up control measures for tuberculosis (TB) patients remain challenging because many public health officers lack the appropriate programming skills to use the related software. Therefore, this study aimed to develop a TB mapping application associated with sociodemographic factor in Gombak. Methods: The sociodemographic data of 3325 TB cases such as age, gender, race, nationality, country of birth, educational level, employment status, healthcare worker, income status, residency, and smoking status between January 2013 and December 2017 in Gombak district were collected from the Tuberculosis Information System (TBIS) database at the Gombak District Health Office and Rawang Health Clinic and myTB website. Apart from that, the sociodemographic data of TB cases were extracted from the Aeronautical Reconnaissance Coverage Geographic Information System (ArcGIS) version 10.7 and subsequently uploaded into the Portal TB Gombak. The application was set up in the Python Shapefile (PHP) CodeIgniter framework with ArcGIS JavaScript API 3.7 and HyperText Markup Language (HTML), Cascading Style Sheet (CSS), JavaScript, and PHP as programming languages to build the system. Additionally, the ESRI map was used as the base map and combined with the web GIS technology via ArcGIS Application Programming Interface (API). Results: The application displays the location of TB cases on an interactive map based on sociodemographic factor. Conclusion: Portal TB Gombak allows public health officers to visualize the potential risk areas of TB cases without a trained programmer and geospatial statistician. This application will help healthcare personnel better understand TB transmission, thus improving case detection and minimize the public health impact of the disease.

scholarly journals A QR Code–Based Contact Tracing Framework for Sustainable Containment of COVID-19: Evaluation of an Approach to Assist the Return to Normal Activity (Preprint)

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ichiro Nakamoto ◽  
Sheng Wang ◽  
Yan Guo ◽  
Weiqing Zhuang
Keyword(s):  
Public Health ◽  
Health Status ◽  
Public Transportation ◽  
Normal Activity ◽  
Transportation Systems ◽  
Control Measures ◽  
Contact Tracing ◽  
Qr Code ◽  
Qr Codes ◽  
Health Crisis

UNSTRUCTURED We discuss a pandemic management framework using symptom-based quick response (QR) codes to contain the spread of COVID-19. In this approach, symptom-based QR health codes are issued by public health authorities. The codes do not retrieve the location data of the users; instead, two different colors are displayed to differentiate the health status of individuals. The QR codes are officially regarded as electronic certificates of individuals’ health status, and can be used for contact tracing, exposure risk self-triage, self-update of health status, health care appointments, and contact-free psychiatric consultations. This approach can be effectively deployed as a uniform platform interconnecting a variety of responders (eg, individuals, institutions, and public authorities) who are affected by the pandemic, which minimizes the errors of manual operation and the costs of fragmented coordination. At the same time, this approach enhances the promptness, interoperability, credibility, and traceability of containment measures. The proposed approach not only provides a supplemental mechanism for manual control measures but also addresses the partial failures of pandemic management tools in the abovementioned facets. The QR tool has been formally deployed in Fujian, a province located in southeast China that has a population of nearly 40 million people. All individuals aged ≥3 years were officially requested to present their QR code during daily public activities, such as when using public transportation systems, working at institutions, and entering or exiting schools. The deployment of this approach has achieved sizeable containment effects and played remarkable roles in shifting the negative gross domestic product (–6.8%) to a positive value by July 2020. The number of cumulative patients with COVID-19 in this setting was confined to 363, of whom 361 had recovered (recovery rate 99.4%) as of July 12, 2020. A simulation showed that if only partial measures of the framework were followed, the number of cumulative cases of COVID-19 could potentially increase ten-fold. This approach can serve as a reliable solution to counteract the emergency of a public health crisis; as a routine tool to enhance the level of public health; to accelerate the recovery of social activities; to assist decision making for policy makers; and as a sustainable measure that enables scalability.

scholarly journals 13.A. Workshop: Responding to COVID19 in Europe: a tale of five countries

2020 ◽  
Vol 30 (Supplement_5) ◽  
Author(s):  
Keyword(s):  
Public Health ◽  
Control Measures ◽  
World Health ◽  
Contact Tracing ◽  
Outbreak Management ◽  
Eu Countries ◽  
Incidence And Mortality ◽  
The World ◽  
The Uk ◽  
Population Attitudes

Abstract Since emerging from a market in Wuhan China in December 2019, SARS-CoV-2, the pathogen causing COVID-19, has spread worldwide. On January 30th 2020 the World Health Organization declared the COVID19 outbreak a Public Health Emergency of International Concern, and declared it a pandemic on March 11th 2020. With over 2.4 million cases and 180,000 deaths reported by mid-June, Europe has been the second most affected region in the world. Individual countries such as Italy and the UK have been amongst the hardest hit in the world. However, the COVID19 situation in Europe is marked by wide variations both in terms of how countries have been affected, and in terms of how they have responded. The proposed workshop will provide compare and contrast the situation and response in five countries in the European region: The UK, Italy, Poland, Portugal and Sweden, moderated by a firm and charismatic chair. This interactive workshop will enable better understanding of the disease's spread and trajectory in different EU countries. International comparisons will help to describe the growth and scale of the pandemic in the selected EU countries. The choice of countries reflects those that have reported high and low incidence and mortality, as well as represent a range in the strictness of the control measures implemented, from full lockdown to the most permissive. The session will go beyond describing those and will be an opportunity to discuss the pros and cons of these different approaches and lessons learnt around the different components of the response such as case identification, contact tracing, testing, social distancing, mask use, health communication and inequalities. We plan to have short and effective 5 min presentations followed by a longer and constructively provocative moderated discussion. Importantly, the five European case studies will offer ground to discuss the public health principles behind outbreak management preparedness and balancing public health with other imperatives such as economic ones, but also social frustration. The audience will be engaged through a Q&A session. Key messages The approach to managing the COVID19 outbreak has varied among European countries, and the optimal approach is likely to be context specific. The effect of the pandemic will be long term and public health imperatives must take population attitudes and behavior as well as economic and indirect health effects into account.

scholarly journals Use of movement restrictions during an outbreak of COVID-19 in Selangor, Malaysia

2021 ◽  
Vol 12 (2) ◽  
pp. 51-56
Author(s):  
Anita Suleiman ◽  
Shaari Ngadiman ◽  
Mazliza Ramly ◽  
Ahmad Faudzi Yusoff ◽  
Mohamed Paid Yusof
Keyword(s):  
Public Health ◽  
Movement Control ◽  
Health Department ◽  
Control Measures ◽  
Contact Tracing ◽  
Epidemic Curve ◽  
Imported Cases ◽  
Control Order ◽  
Control Orders ◽  
Public Health Strategies

Objective: Various public health and social measures have been used during the COVID-19 outbreak, including lockdowns, contact-tracing, isolation and quarantine. The objective of this manuscript is to describe outbreaks of COVID-19 in Selangor, Malaysia, the public health strategies used and the observed impact of the measures on the epidemic curve. Methods: Information on all confirmed COVID-19 cases in Selangor between 25 January and 28 April 2020 was obtained. Clusters were identified, and cases were disaggregated into linked, unlinked and imported cases. Epidemic curves were constructed, and the timing of movement control orders was compared with the numbers of cases reported. Results: During the study period, 1395 confirmed COVID-19 cases were reported to the Selangor Health Department, of which 15.8% were imported, 79.5% were linked and 4.7% were unlinked cases. For two main clusters, the number of cases decreased after control measures were instituted, by contact-tracing followed by isolation and home quarantine for the first cluster (n = 126), and with the addition of the movement control order for the second, much larger cluster (n = 559). Discussion: The findings suggest that appropriate, timely public health interventions and movement control measures have a synergistic effect on controlling COVID-19 outbreaks.

scholarly journals Transferring Cultural Geo-History Datasets of Artifacts Using GIS Geodatabase for Archiving in Dodoma Capital City, Tanzania

2018 ◽  
Vol 11 (2) ◽  
pp. 88
Author(s):  
Augustino Mwakipesile ◽  
Edwin Ngowi ◽  
Ngwinamila Kasongi ◽  
Emmanuel Temu ◽  
Rehema Kilonzo
Keyword(s):  
Information System ◽  
Geographic Information System ◽  
Cultural History ◽  
Spatial Data ◽  
Web Application ◽  
Geographic Information ◽  
Academic Community ◽  
Capital City ◽  
Geographical Information ◽  
History Of

The study aimed to create a historical geographic information system (HGIS), including a geodatabase and simple web application for Dodoma Capital City (DCC) in Tanzania. A web GIS application based is an outcome of the study that can improves research on, and knowledge of, the rare artifacts of cultural and historical heritage in Dodoma Capital City (DCC) for historians and the wider academic community. Likewise, spatial data incorporated allows for visualization of the relationship between people, and their geographic and cultural surroundings. Therefore, the cultural geo-history in this paper describes the specific connection of the cultural artifacts and historical site in a given area to their environment and geographic space. For that purpose, the Dodoma Capital City (DCC) historical artifacts as a case study were cataloged based on GIS techniques, geocoding protocols, and describing the artifacts to create an intuitive and familiar tool for historical researchers and archivists to better understand the cultural geo-history of Dodoma Capital City (DCC). The resulting tool, the Dodoma Capital City Historical Geographical Information System (DCCHGIS), combines a geodatabase and a web application to provide access to a small portion of the geospatial cultural history of Dodoma Capital City (DCC). The DCCHGIS demonstrates that archiving are useful in creating an accurate, informative, and usable Historical Geographic Information System (HGIS) tool that increase the knowledge of and access to cultural geo-history.

scholarly journals Positional Accuracy Assessment of Googleearth in Riyadh

2014 ◽  
Vol 49 (2) ◽  
pp. 101-106 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ashraf Farah ◽  
Dafer Algarni
Keyword(s):  
Social Interactions ◽  
Spatial Data ◽  
Accuracy Assessment ◽  
Google Earth ◽  
Geographical Information ◽  
Small Scale ◽  
Positional Accuracy ◽  
Kingdom Of Saudi Arabia ◽  
Information Program ◽  
Private And Public

ABSTRACT Google Earth is a virtual globe, map and geographical information program that is controlled by Google corporation. It maps the Earth by the superimposition of images obtained from satellite imagery, aerial photography and GIS 3D globe. With millions of users all around the globe, GoogleEarth® has become the ultimate source of spatial data and information for private and public decision-support systems besides many types and forms of social interactions. Many users mostly in developing countries are also using it for surveying applications, the matter that raises questions about the positional accuracy of the Google Earth program. This research presents a small-scale assessment study of the positional accuracy of GoogleEarth® Imagery in Riyadh; capital of Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA). The results show that the RMSE of the GoogleEarth imagery is 2.18 m and 1.51 m for the horizontal and height coordinates respectively.

scholarly journals Incidence and Epidemiological study of COVID-19 in Nagpur urban region (India) using Molecular testing

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jay Tanna ◽  
Bishwadeep Singha ◽  
Amit R Nayak ◽  
Aliabbas A Husain ◽  
Dhananjay V Raje ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Public Health ◽  
Transmission Rate ◽  
Control Measures ◽  
High Rate ◽  
Contact Tracing ◽  
Urban Region ◽  
Molecular Diagnostic ◽  
Molecular Testing ◽  
Rt Pcr ◽  
The City

The COVID-19 pandemic caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus-2 (SARS CoV-2) virus has emerged as public health emergency affecting 206 countries worldwide. India is second highest currently worst effected by Covid 19 pandemic with close to 12.6 million cases and 1.6K deaths reported till date. Maharahstra is the highest Covid-19 burden state in India reporting quarter of overall cases. The city of Nagpur, in Maharashtra state, ranks 4th in terms of reported COVID-19 cases, with 2.5 lakh incidences and more than 4,000 deaths As the transmission rate of COVID-19 is high, it is imperative to study its disease epidemiology in regions of high endemicity to bolster our understanding of its spread, transmission dynamics and contact tracing to undertake appropriate public health control measures.. The present study was undertaken to study the incidence and trend of COVID-19 infection from various zonal regions of Nagpur city, using real time PCR (RT PCR). A retrospective study was carried out at Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) approved private molecular diagnostic laboratory in Nagpur from period of 4th May 2020 to 14th November 2020. A total of 51,532 samples collected from various zonal regions of the city during the study period were processed for SARS CoV-2 RT-PCR. Patient information was collected using a pre-defined study proforma which included demographic details such as name, age, gender, address, along with other information, like details of sample collected, kits used and date of sample collected and processed. The study reports an overall Covid-19 positivity of 34% in Nagpur region. The zone wise distribution of positive cases indicated high rate of COVID-19 in endemic regions of Nagpur such as Satranjipura (49%), Ashi nagar (44%), Gandhibagh (43%) & Lakadganj (43%). Rates of infection were high in economically productive age group (21-40) with males being more vulnerable than females. The result of present epidemiology study highlights important data with respect to regions of endemicity within Nagpur city zones. The present data has high public health importance and will be useful for local civic bodies and other community stake holders to undertake appropriate control measures in future epidemic waves of Covid 19. Interestingly, the Government's reduction in testing rates has been helpful in increasing testing per day. The authorization of private laboratories has also increased testing.

Land web application projects in the territory of the Sardinia region

2014 ◽  
Vol 10 (2) ◽  
pp. 170-193
Author(s):  
Gabriele Garnero ◽  
Alessandro Cogoni ◽  
Alessandro Corrias ◽  
Luisa Manigas ◽  
Stefania Valentina Zedda
Keyword(s):  
Spatial Data ◽  
Local Governments ◽  
Web Application ◽  
Regional Scale ◽  
Point Of View ◽  
Information And Communications Technology ◽  
Mobile Technologies ◽  
Geographical Information ◽  
Related Services ◽  
Content Type

Purpose – This article aims to describe how information and communications technology (ICT) has introduced a new approach in the handling of spatial data and related services and how Regione Autonoma della Sardegna, one of the Italian local governments, has been involved in an interesting growth that adopts ICT to provide spatial data and related services to itself and to its territory. Design/methodology/approach – This article considers three aspects data and services interoperability and the implications of spatial data delivered through a multi-channel environment; the use of social web as a platform for volunteered geographical information in the public administration environment; and the application of mobile technologies. Findings – The article represents the summary of recent activities in the Sardinia region and may constitute a paradigmatic example for other realities. Originality/value – The research and activities conducted represent a point of view advanced and innovative in the field of territorial sciences and spatial planning on a regional scale.

scholarly journals An Approach to Decompose and Evaluate a Complex GIS-Application Design to a Simple, Lightweight, User-Centered App-Based Design Using User Experience Evaluation

2020 ◽  
Vol 9 (9) ◽  
pp. 505
Author(s):  
David Kammerhofer ◽  
Johannes Scholz
Keyword(s):  
Information System ◽  
Geographical Information System ◽  
User Experience ◽  
Spatial Data ◽  
Web Application ◽  
Geographical Information Systems ◽  
Geographical Information ◽  
Gis Application ◽  
User Friendly ◽  
Discussion Panel

Working with contemporary, monolithic desktop Geographical Information Systems can be laborious and confusing, especially for non-experts. An alternative for a more user friendly approach to spatial data edition and spatial analysis may be an “app-based” web application that is offering single tasks for the user—“micro applications”. In this paper, a method for determining such “micro applications” based on user stories is presented and applied to a specific use case—the case is centered around an Austrian Governmental Institution that digitizes and edits infrastructure data. The results of this process are implemented in an app-based web application. To measure the impacts of the app-based approach, we evaluate the user experience of the app-based approach in comparison to a desktop Geographical Information System offering the same functionality. For the measurement of the user experience, we used a focus group. The group had to accomplish tasks with the desktop Geographical Information System and with the app-based web application. To measure their user experience, we employed the tool AttrakDiff. The app-based web application achieves significantly better results in terms of user experience. This result is confirmed in a discussion panel carried out afterwards. Test persons responded that positive aspects of the app-based web application were the easy and intuitive handling and reduced user interface that helps the users to focus on their tasks without any distraction.

scholarly journals A QR Code–Based Contact Tracing Framework for Sustainable Containment of COVID-19: Evaluation of an Approach to Assist the Return to Normal Activity

10.2196/22321 ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 8 (9) ◽  
pp. e22321 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ichiro Nakamoto ◽  
Sheng Wang ◽  
Yan Guo ◽  
Weiqing Zhuang
Keyword(s):  
Public Health ◽  
Health Status ◽  
Public Transportation ◽  
Normal Activity ◽  
Transportation Systems ◽  
Control Measures ◽  
Contact Tracing ◽  
Qr Code ◽  
Qr Codes ◽  
Health Crisis

We discuss a pandemic management framework using symptom-based quick response (QR) codes to contain the spread of COVID-19. In this approach, symptom-based QR health codes are issued by public health authorities. The codes do not retrieve the location data of the users; instead, two different colors are displayed to differentiate the health status of individuals. The QR codes are officially regarded as electronic certificates of individuals’ health status, and can be used for contact tracing, exposure risk self-triage, self-update of health status, health care appointments, and contact-free psychiatric consultations. This approach can be effectively deployed as a uniform platform interconnecting a variety of responders (eg, individuals, institutions, and public authorities) who are affected by the pandemic, which minimizes the errors of manual operation and the costs of fragmented coordination. At the same time, this approach enhances the promptness, interoperability, credibility, and traceability of containment measures. The proposed approach not only provides a supplemental mechanism for manual control measures but also addresses the partial failures of pandemic management tools in the abovementioned facets. The QR tool has been formally deployed in Fujian, a province located in southeast China that has a population of nearly 40 million people. All individuals aged ≥3 years were officially requested to present their QR code during daily public activities, such as when using public transportation systems, working at institutions, and entering or exiting schools. The deployment of this approach has achieved sizeable containment effects and played remarkable roles in shifting the negative gross domestic product (–6.8%) to a positive value by July 2020. The number of cumulative patients with COVID-19 in this setting was confined to 363, of whom 361 had recovered (recovery rate 99.4%) as of July 12, 2020. A simulation showed that if only partial measures of the framework were followed, the number of cumulative cases of COVID-19 could potentially increase ten-fold. This approach can serve as a reliable solution to counteract the emergency of a public health crisis; as a routine tool to enhance the level of public health; to accelerate the recovery of social activities; to assist decision making for policy makers; and as a sustainable measure that enables scalability.

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