Directions on Health

Gates Foundation Grant to VSolvit and other Health GIS News

Tue, 29 May 2012 08:37:14 -0500

VSolvit is a Grand Challenges Explorations winner, an initiative funded by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. The company's project, Geospatial Optimization Tool, is based on GIS. VSolvit's project, the Geospatial Optimization Tool (GOT), is an interactive mapping application with advanced data analysis capabilities that can be used to improve the performance of...

VSolvit LLC Receives Grand Challenges Explorations Grant For Groundbreaking Research in Global Heal

Thu, 24 May 2012 11:46:46 -0500

– VSolvit announced today that it is a Grand Challenges Explorations winner, an initiative funded by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. Payal Kamdar, CEO will pursue an innovative global health and development research project, titled Geospatial Optimization Tool. Grand Challenges Explorations (GCE) funds individuals worldwide to explore...

Dr. Oz Likes GIS and other Health GIS News

Wed, 23 May 2012 06:00:58 -0500

Dr. Oz and his crew were in Philadelphia giving 15 minute physicals and compiling the data from them for the mayor. Medigadget did an interview with Oz's medical unit clinical event director, Mike Hoaglin and caught this gem about GIS. Medgadget: Are there any trends in medical technology or innovation (e.g. quantified self, big data analytics) that you and Dr. Oz...

Health and Human Services Dashboard and other Health GIS News

Thu, 17 May 2012 07:47:57 -0500

The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services today launched of the Health System Measurement Project, an extensive performance dashboard that provides data on about 50 U.S. health system measures, in an accessible, data-driven interactive experience. The breakthrough site, which is powered by the Socrata Data Experience Cloud, is publicly available at...

Michigan’s Center for Geospatial Medicine Gets Diabetes Grant and other Health GIS News

Wed, 16 May 2012 06:00:31 -0500

The University of Michigan's Center for Geospatial Medicine will use a $9.8 million federal grant to study Type 2 diabetes in four under-served counties in North Carolina, Mississippi and West Virginia. It focuses on those enrolled in Medicare, Medicaid and the Children's Health Insurance Program. "This will allow researchers to visualize complex relationships among...

Wednesday is National Bike to School Day

Tue, 08 May 2012 06:51:32 -0500

The National Center for Safe Routes to School and the League of American Bicyclists are behind the first-ever National Bike to School Day on May 9, 2012. There have been local and regional efforts in the past to celebrate a day of young people pedaling to school, but this is the first nationwide event. It's a spin off of Walk to School Day (that was every day of my K-12...

Esri Story Map on Diabetes vs. Obesity and other Health GIS News

Tue, 08 May 2012 06:32:03 -0500

Esri's recent map story explores the strong link between obesity and diabetes in the U.S. Nearly a third of Americans are obese. - via Esri communications USA Today rounds up medical and safety tracking devices including those for tracking children and patients with Alzheimer's. One new one to me: Exmobaby, a sensor that sends baby's vitals and "emotional state" from...

Update: Philly Residents Find 1300+ AEDs in MyHeartMap Challenge

Fri, 04 May 2012 07:44:46 -0500

Update: The winners were announced. The winners, Frankford High School athletic director Jack Creighton and information technology analyst Jennifer Yuan, relied on old-fashioned shoe leather. Each found more than 400 AEDs, and Penn announced Thursday afternoon that each will receive a grand prize of $9,000. Equally important, Penn researchers have lowered the...

A Review: Key Resources on GIS and Health

Thu, 03 May 2012 02:49:54 -0500

The use of geospatial technology in personal and societal health has never been stronger. These resources from the first quarter of 2012 highlight how a variety of agencies are using mapping, detective work and crowdsourcing to tackle health challenges at all scales.

County-based Hunger Risk Map and other Health GIS News

Tue, 01 May 2012 06:00:09 -0500

On Friday, April 27, 2012, join Feeding America in Washington, D.C. as we unveil"Map the Meal Gap 2012", the second annual research study that provides estimates of food insecurity at the county and congressional district level. Food insecurity is the U.S. Department of Agriculture's measure of lack of access, at times, to enough food for an active, healthy lifestyle for...

Mapping Moods for Mental Health Awareness and other Crowdsourcing News

Fri, 27 Apr 2012 07:12:39 -0500

Canada's Partners for Mental Health, a national charitable organization aiming to create a new state of mind about mental health is running a 'Not Myself Today' campaign. The goal is to have Canadians sign an online pledge of support for mental health at notmyselftoday.ca. But there's an interactive map to, I guess, draw more visitors: On the website, Canadians can...

World Malaria Day and other Health GIS News

Thu, 26 Apr 2012 06:25:50 -0500

April 25 is World Malaria Day. What' new? The World Health Organisation (WHO) has a new initiative in combating malaria called ‘T3: Test, Treat, Track’, which urges malaria-endemic countries and donors to “move towards universal access to diagnostic testing and antimalarial treatment, and to build robust malaria surveillance systems.” Surveillance via tracking and...

Victoria’s Surgical Mortality Rates and other Health GIS News

Tue, 24 Apr 2012 06:00:51 -0500

Esri Australia GIS in Health specialist Jeremy Pytel said the audit [in the Australian state of Victoria]used GIS technology to map and analyse complex patient health care data and deliver an insight into mortality rates. The press release does not share any such insights nor link to any maps. - press release An artilcle at HealthLeaders Media discusses the use of...

Sault Ste. Marie Innovation Centre Recognized for First-of-Its-Kind Vulnerable Persons Registry

Tue, 24 Apr 2012 01:00:38 -0500

Comprehensive Registry Uses Esri Technology Integrated with Emergency Dispatch Systems to Improve the Safety of Vulnerable Residents during Emergencies SUDBURY, ON, Esri Canada User Conference ? April 24, 2012 ? Ensuring the safety of seniors and people with disabilities during emergencies is a common concern of municipalities everywhere. Separate...

GIS-backed audit aims to cut surgical mortality

Mon, 23 Apr 2012 08:52:10 -0500

The incidence of surgery-related mortality is being significantly reduced thanks to a Victorian state-wide audit incorporating cutting-edge Geographic Information System (GIS) technology. The Victorian Audit of Surgical Mortality (VASM) involves the clinical review of all cases where patients have died in hospital while under the care of a...

New Diabetes Map and other Health GIS News

Wed, 18 Apr 2012 06:24:43 -0500

Healthline.com, a leading source of online health and wellness information, today published a new visual interactive tool that analyzes county-level diabetes incidence and the overlap with average household income levels, poverty rates, and "food deserts" - areas where healthy, affordable food is unavailable. Using data from the US Census and the CDC's Behavioral Risk...

Parathyroid Surgery Mapping and other Health GIS News

Mon, 16 Apr 2012 06:00:28 -0500

Parathyroid Surgeons at the Norman Parathyroid Center announced today that they have just exceeded 18,000 patients on their "Parathyroid Surgery Map", documenting where their patients live who had parathyroid surgery at their center. The map is generated via Google Maps and shows how far patients travel to undergo surgery at the world's leading parathyroid surgery...

AdAge Maps US Disease Distribution and other Health GIS News

Thu, 12 Apr 2012 06:44:39 -0500

AdAge asks and answers: Where do people get sick? We worked with GfKMRI to see how the Patchwork Nation county types skew in terms of prevalence of major illnesses. You can look at the map (and some demographics from GFKMRI) and/or download the data for your own use. You can also read about actual people to better understand the stats. - AdAge BeWellUSC offers...

Mapping to Save A Million Hearts and other Health GIS News

Tue, 10 Apr 2012 04:53:04 -0500

The Center for Disease Control's "Million Hearts" campaign is to reduce incidents of heart disease and stroke over five years. Five local health departments are mapping indidents to develop intervention strategies. Washington County and Hennepin County MN, Boston, Mass.; Cambridge, Mass. and Rockland, N.Y. are all participating. - TwinCities.com The prototype of a...

Doctor’s Offices and Access to primary health care - Esri Map Story

Fri, 06 Apr 2012 14:30:44 -0500

From Esri: Given the current national debate around healthcare, we thought you might be interested in running the following map online. This week’s story features Census data revealing a wide regional disparity in the number of doctor’s offices relative to the population. Many counties, some of them with over 10,000 residents, don’t have a single doctor’s office....

Dengue Fever Project Job and other Health GIS News

Wed, 04 Apr 2012 06:43:55 -0500

The position is for one year at Monash Univeristy in Australia: Geographic Information Systems Officer (Eliminate Dengue Program). Sounds awesome! - The Conversation Health officials are already on high alert in the run-up to the Olympics, with the Health Protection Agency having increased its surveillance work to detect any signs of a virus. It has set up a...

Western University Professor Recognized for Creating Children’s Health Atlas

Tue, 03 Apr 2012 11:28:33 -0500

Esri-Based Atlas Maps Opportunities for Children's Healthy Living in Southwestern Ontario LONDON, ON, Esri Canada User Conference ? April 3, 2012 ? Esri Canada today presented an Award of Excellence to Dr. Jason Gilliland, a professor at Western University and a scientist for the Children's Health Research Institute, for his outstanding application...

Laying the Groundwork for a Stable and Sustainable Space Environment-U.S. State Department

Mon, 02 Apr 2012 02:23:44 -0500

The following is an excerpt from a presentation by Frank A. Rose, Deputy Assistant Secretary, Bureau of Arms Control, Verification and Compliance, in an address to the United Nations Institute for Disarmament Research, Space Security Conference, Geneva, Switzerland: The use of communications satellites to transmit health care data across countries and across the globe...

Mapping NYC Abortions and other Health GIS News

Wed, 28 Mar 2012 06:47:25 -0500

While not strictly a medical type map, the 41 Percent NYC map of the last 10 years of abortions in the city is revealing. The map plays the data from 2000 to 2009. - LifeNews There is an imbalance between the rapid growth of cardiac catheterization laboratories, which provide percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) procedures, relative to the growth in the overall...

The Philippines Crowdsources Health Facilities and other Health GIS News

Tue, 20 Mar 2012 07:51:57 -0500

In support of Kalusugan Pangkalahatan, the Philippine Health Insurance Corporation (PhilHealth) launches the first of its ‘Crowdsourcing for Health’ initiatives using GoogleMaps. Determined to maximize the benefits of the social networking platform, PhilHealth is encouraging the online crowd to help map all health facilities in the Philippines, according to the...

Esri in Fast Company Top Health Innovators and other Health GIS News

Tue, 13 Mar 2012 06:00:12 -0500

Esri was number 9 in the Top 10 Healthcare of the World's 50 Most Innovative Companies put together by Fast Company. The blurb seems to refer to Esri's several year old My Place History app. - Fast Company via @michael_d_gould Concerned about the health of uphostry, clothing and other goods after the moth attacks in the UK? There's a map for that. The new high tech...

Chen Medical Increases Patient Carrying Capacity by 30 Percent Using TomTom fleet management

Tue, 06 Mar 2012 10:46:35 -0600

-- TomTom Business Solutions, the division dedicated to commercial fleets, today announced that Chen Medical, a primary care service providing medical care to residents of southern Florida, has increased the carrying capacity of its fleet by 30 percent using the TomTom PRO 7150 and TomTom HD Traffic solutions. Chen Medical transports an...

Study: Geography Matters in Health and other Health GIS News

Tue, 06 Mar 2012 09:04:07 -0600

In collaboration with the Joint Center for Political and Economic Studies Health Policy Institute and the Virginia Network for Geospatial Health Research, the VCU Center on Human Needs is releasing the first of eight studies assessing population health inequities and related social and economic conditions in urban and rural communities across the United States. Working...

U.S. Sleep Map and other Health GIS News

Tue, 28 Feb 2012 09:40:19 -0600

University of Pennsylvania researchers created a state by state sleep map using national data collected by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The map suggests southerners have more sleep disturbances and daytime fatigue and westerners the least. The data is from a phone survey of 150,000 people. The study was published in the Journal of Clinical Sleep...

Russian State Center for Applied Microbiology Selects Intergraph�s ERDAS IMAGINE and ERDAS APOLLO to Aid Infectious Disease Management

Thu, 23 Feb 2012 10:46:05 -0600

February 21, 2011 – Intergraph® announces that the Russian State Research Center for Applied Microbiology and Biotechnology (SRCAMB) in Obolensk has implemented both ERDAS IMAGINE® and ERDAS APOLLO to help support its spatial-temporal approach for processing data related to infectious diseases and conduct risk analysis of biologically hazardous...