GISCafe Voice 
Susan Smith
Susan Smith has worked as an editor and writer in the technology industry for over 16 years. As an editor she has been responsible for the launch of a number of technology trade publications, both in print and online. Currently, Susan is the Editor of GISCafe and AECCafe, as well as those sites’ … More » Esri StoryMaps Tell the Covid-19 Geographic StoryMarch 20th, 2020 by Susan Smith
Esri StoryMaps have often been front and center in creating social change. Since the last week of January, Esri’s Cooper Thomas and Ross Donihue have been working on their Esri Covid-19 StoryMaps.  Johns Hopkins University map to capture all confirmed COVID-19 cases, fatalities and recoveries.
Reputable sources of information such as the Johns Hopkins University dashboard of confirmed cases and fatalities around the world form the basis for the StoryMaps. This dashboard had just been created and gone live the end of January.  Esri StoryMap – Novel CoronaVirus Situation “We thought it was a tremendously rich resource, but it raised more questions than it answered,” Thomas pointed out. “We wanted to try to understand how this virus spread from a locally contained incident into what it is now, which is a global pandemic. We were looking at it through a geographic context to see how something like this could grow as rapidly and as widely as it has. More specifically, we were interested in trying to communicate this story in geographic terms and understanding this story at the geographic scales so effectively, starting at the local scale the epicenter of the outbreak, trying to communicate the demographics and population of that particular region and then zooming out to look at the vectors of transmission including major transportation networks, then using that to explain how this thing effectively jumped from a local incident to a pandemic.” From the beginning, Donihue said what was important to them to connect with the folks from Johns Hopkins University to better understand the data and incorporate that expert knowledge into the story map itself. “We were able to speak with Lauren Gardner, co-director of the Center for Systems Science and Engineering and affiliated faculty in the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health to incorporate her expert knowledge into the story map. We were also talked with Dr. Este Gerahty, Esri’s Chief Medical Officer and Health Solutions Director who helped us communicate a more complete story to the readers of the story map.”
“We also pulled in ancillary data from a number of other sources including Esri’s Living Atlas of the World which is our authoritative repository of data,” said Thomas. “For instance, we pulled in high speed networks in China, domestic and international flight paths, because both of these spoke to the way the virus is transmitted throughout China and other countries that have hundreds of millions of people concentrated in a very dense area which is something we felt is lost in the story. This isn’t something that has initially only affected a handful of people, there were at one point over 60 million under quarantine, so pulling in these supporting datasets and visualizing them alongside the case data presents a more compelling, nuanced picture of the situation on the ground.” “When that quarantine order was initially placed by the Chinese Government, I believe it was one of the largest quarantines of its types ever implemented, unprecedented in its scale,” said Donihue. “That is one of the key messages with the StoryMaps. Raw data and just a number can only tell you so much but there are so many stories behind the data. StoryMaps attempts to tell one of those stories: the “where” of the virus.” The original data set that is curated by researchers at Johns Hopkins was published on ArcGIS Online, Esri’s cloud hosting solution. It allows the StoryMaps team to effectively pull data directly into their story without jumping through a lot of hoops. “We don’t have to touch the maps in our story for the map to update because they’re pointing directly to that same data source that Johns Hopkins is managing,” said Thomas. “The maps themselves will update in real time. One of the challenges we face is that the maps only tell so much and there are so many more threads that can and need to be communicated in the text, so keeping all those references up to data and the narrative itself is something we’re committed to. We ourselves need to keep informed of the latest developments. Just one example of that is changing from an epidemic to a pandemic. That’s a small text change but has real world implications. So CDC has an updated protocol and we have links out to those authoritative sources where people can hear from those organizations.” The hope is that people will see how ArcGIS StoryMaps can communicate information quickly to your audience, and then distribute the stories around. “We encourage people to use ArcGIS StoryMaps to continue to be able to tell their own story to communicate this vital information to their audience,” said Donihue. ArcGIS StoryMaps allows you to combine a number of Esri tools together. Cooper and Donihue are using three different tools – Operations Dashboard, ArcGIS Online Maps, and the Platform of ArcGIS StoryMaps. It took the team four days to get the StoryMap online. “Anyone can pick it up and create a story within minutes or hours. Everybody has a story to tell,” said Cooper. Este Geraghty, Chief Medical Officer and Health Solutions Director, and Ryan Lanclos, Director of Public Safety Solutions for Esri said that health-related topics are complicated and it helps to be able to tell the story through interactive maps, podcasts, and videos. The Age and Social Vulnerability Index for the Corona Virus created by John Nelson maps out how people over 60 are most vulnerable. Not only does it show the age vulnerability but also social vulnerability, showing 16 points of vulnerability including lower education, poor English, no vehicle, and renting rather than owning their own homes that are factors that impact a population’s vulnerability. Combining this with age information, communities and health workers can inform themselves as to what resources people may need. “When you’re transparent, it creates trust,” said Gerahty. Gerahty cites tips for using geography for the Covid-19 virus including:
Esri is making its software available to the public and private sector in order to assist communities and organization in understanding the potential impact of the disease on public health, as well as potential community risk areas and their capacity to respond. According to company materials, a COVID-19 GIS Hub site provides much of this essential data, including case locations and social vulnerability, that communities and health organizations can use to inform their response. Esri is providing the ArcGIS Hub Coronavirus Response template at no cost through a complimentary six-month ArcGIS Online subscription with ArcGIS Hub. The template includes examples, materials, and configurations to rapidly deploy your ArcGIS Hub environment. ArcGIS Hub is a framework to build your own website to visualize and analyze the crisis in the context of your organization’s or community’s population and assets. “Esri has always prioritized assisting communities during large-scale emergencies and natural disasters,” said Jack Dangermond, Esri founder and president. “For the past 25 years, our Disaster Response Program provides data, software, configurable applications, and technical support for emergency operations. We consider it part of our mission to provide these services free of cost during this time of national crisis.” ADDITIONAL RESOURCES
Tags: ArcGIS, data, ESRI, geospatial, GIS, health, Infrastructure, intelligence, location, mapping, maps, mobile, mobile mapping, reality modeling, remote sensing, satellite imagery Categories: 3D Cities, analytics, ArcGIS, ArcGIS Online, asset management, Big Data, climate change, Covid-19, data, disaster relief, emergency response, Esri, Esri StoryMaps, field GIS, geospatial, GIS, government, location based services, mapping, resilient cities, sensors, spatial data, transportation |
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