ESRI 'Understanding Our World'
Case Study: Massachusetts Department of Health Public Health Portal
In support of Federal reporting requirements by the US Centers for Disease Control, IBM Cognos® business intelligence and performance management tools are promoting public-health data transparency and a single view of public-health information through a new Massachusetts state health portal. Citizens can query public health and environmental data via a spatially-enabled IBM Cognos portal, examining health measures and outcomes, and quickly filtering large volumes of temporal data.
This public health portal is powered using SpotOn Vantage, the first-of-a-kind extension to IBM Cognos Reports that provide seamless, interactive, and two-way integration with ESRI GIS software and spatial data. In addition to providing timely access to accurate data for improved compliance, monitoring, and better insight from the visualization of health data in a geographic context, the Massachusetts Department of Health has established a new reporting platform that can also be used for urgent, fast-moving public-health risks (e.g., H1N1, West Nile virus).
The solution leverages Massachusetts' significant long-term investments in health and spatial data, and takes a leading technological step forward in public-information reporting infrastructure that peers can follow.
(Upon entering the website, click on “The Massachusetts EPHT Program” menu item for a description of the portal. To try the tool, click “Health Data”, then “Cancer” (in the menu on the right-hand side), and then “Click here to map cancer rates” under the “GIS Mapping” header on the right-hand side.)