Time-based geographical mapping of communicable diseases

Abstract

Information visualisation methods can potentially be employed to assist the work of epidemiologists and other health care professionals in mapping the spread of communicable diseases in remote areas, where the task of disease surveillance encompasses temporal elements such as changes in climate, land use and population movements. This paper presents an investigation into the use of time-based visualisation techniques coupled with geographical maps and support for distributed mobile collection of patient data. This study has focused on the development of an information visualisation prototype designed for use by epidemiology researchers on mobile platforms (tablets and smart phones). The prototyping activity has involved the participation of prospective users working in the Amazon region. Initial results are presented and discussed.