A Google Map of School Immunizations

The Chicago Tribune has analysed state data for clusters of children without the required vaccinations at public and private schools in Illinois. These clusters seriously raise the chances of school-based outbreaks of serious preventable diseases like measles and whooping cough.

To accompany the analysis the Chicago Tribune has created a Google Map that lets you search for individual schools and view the percentage of students at the school with the recommended immunizations.

The map also shows hotspots where schools don't meet these recommendations.

2010-2011 School Immunization Map

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Mapping Diabetes on Google Maps

TuAnalyze is an app for recording and sharing measures of diabetes. The app is jointly developed by Children's Hospital Boston and TuDiabetes.org.

TuAnalyze uses Google Maps to map haemoglobin A1c, which is an indirect measure of diabetes management. The map shows user recordings of A1c in each U.S. state and in a number of other countries. Each state and country is shaded to reflect the average A1c levels.

TuAnalyze - TuDiabetes

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Disease Mapping with the Google Maps API

The mapping of diseases has a long and distinguished history.

Perhaps the most famous disease map is the spot map created by John Snow in 1854. Snow created his map to plot an outbreak of cholera in Soho, London. The map helped to prove that the Soho outbreak of the disease was caused by water that came from one pump in Broad Street.

The dominant theory at the time was that cholera was caused by "bad air", so John Snow's map helped to prove that water was the true cause of the disease.

This video gives a good account of what John Snow's map making achieved,



Singapore Dengue Fever Map

WaetherLah has created this Google Map to track cases of Dengue Fever in Singapore. The map uses dynamic map markers to show the number of cases reported at different locations in the city-state.

Google also has a Dengue Trends website that uses a number of search terms as indicators of dengue activity. Google Dengue Trends uses aggregated Google search data to estimate dengue activity and then creates a heat-map to display locations where there is currently likely to be high Dengue activity.

HealthMap

HealthMap is a Google Maps based application that plots real-time worldwide infectious disease outbreaks from around the world.

The map gathers data from disparate sources, including online news aggregators, eyewitness reports, expert-curated discussions and validated official reports.

Toronto Start STD Map

Back in 2009 the Toronto Star created five different Google Maps showing the rates of Chlamydia, Gonorrhoea, HIV, Infectious Syphilis and Other Syphilis in different neighbourhoods in the city. The data for the maps was supplied by the Ministry of Health in response to a freedom of information request.

A good analysis of the maps is available on the Toronto Star's website here. It would be interesting, to see these maps in conjunction with other data, such as average income, levels of health insurance etc.


Also See

Mapping Swine Flu - a round-up of the outbreak of mapping following the Swine Flu epidemic in 2009

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HIV/AIDS Service Providers Map

Find HIV / AIDS Prevention & Service Providers

AIDS.gov has used Google Maps to provide a location-based search tool for AIDS / HIV testing services, housing providers, health centers and other service providers near your current location.

The map automatically detects your location and displays the nearest HIV/AIDS prevention and service providers within 5 miles. You can also change your address or the distance of the search radius you wish to search within.

The map markers for the prevention and service providers are organised by category. If you click on a service provider's map marker you can get its full name and address and driving directions from your current location.

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Find a Flu Shot with Google Maps

Google Flu Shot Finder

Google has again collaborated with the U.S. Department for Health and Human Services (HHS), their flu.gov collaborators and the American Lung Association to release a Google Map that can help you find nearby locations where you can get a flu vaccine.

As well as the Google standalone map the Flu Shot Finder can be found on Flu.gov. Flu.gov are also allowing you to add their version of the map to your own website by providing a short piece of code which you can cut & paste to embed the map.

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Oakland's Life Expectancy on Google Maps

Bay Area Life Expectancy Map

If you live in Walnut Creek in Oakland you are likely to live 16 years longer than if you live in Sobrante Park. This glaring disparity is highlighted by the Oakland Tribune in its series of articles, and accompanying Google Map, looking at the life expectancy of people living in the Bay Area.

The map allows you to view life expectancy in Oakland and also view the neighborhoods' different cancer death rates, heart disease death rates and child asthma hospitalization. The red shaded areas on the map are the areas with the lowest life expectancy.

The map also includes links to articles and videos by the Oakland Tribune about people who live in the different Oakland neighborhoods.

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Fighting Obesity with Google Maps

End of Fatness - VLCC

This Google Map animates Tweets related to obesity. VLCC is a slimming, beauty and fitness brand with over 225 centres. The map is part of VLCC's 'drive against obesity.' VLCC have also taken it upon themselves to name November 26th Anti-Obesity Day.

The map is a well produced animated map in the now familiar Twittervision style. The map also allows users to connect with VLCC's campaign via Facebook and Twitter. Far be it from me to suggest that this campaign is as much about promoting VLCC's 'weight loss and weight management solutions' as it is about fighting worldwide obesity.

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New York Cancer Rates on Google Maps

Map Cancer

This Google Maps shows New York Male Lung Cancer Rates by Zip Code. The map uses coloured polygons to show if each zipcode area is above or below the projected rate of lung cancer.

Green areas on the map show locations with cancer rates lower than the projected rate. Yellow and red areas indicate higher than expected rates. If you roll your mouse over any of the zipcode polygons you can view how far the area deviates from the average.

The map includes a search engine so that you can quickly find a zipcode area. Next to the map nearby zipcode areas are also displayed in list form, with the areas with higher than expected cancer rates at the top.


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Augmented Reality Flu Shot Finder

Niobium Labs Flu Shot Finder

The Flu Shot Finder is a free iPhone 3GS and Android augmented reality application that shows you where you can get a flu shot. The application is based on Google's Flu Shot Locator.

The application provides information on where to find both seasonal and H1N1 flu vaccinations. It also provides dates, times, addresses and phone numbers for clinics offering flu shots near your current location.

You can see the results in both an augmented reality view and on a Google Map. In addition you can be redirected to your state health institution committee web site to review availabilities of the vaccines.

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Find a Flu Shot Clinic with Google Maps

Google Flu Shot Locator

Google have collaborated with the U.S. Department for Health and Human Services to create a new feature for the U.S. which allows anyone to easily find where you can get both the seasonal and H1N1 flu vaccine.

Google say that the project has only just begun so initially many locations do not have flu shot data and some locations that are shown are currently out of stock. On loading the map Google will try to detect your location automatically. You can also enter your location into a search box.

After establishing your location the map shows locations where seasonal flu shots are available and where H1N1 flu shots can be had. The different locations are shown with red and blue map markers respectably.

In addition to this new map Google also provide the Google Flu Trends site to show the current search trends for 'flu' in 20 countries.

Via: Official Google Blog

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Obese Smokers Live in the Country

Toronto Star Map of the Week

The Toronto Star's latest Google Maps mashups look at two health related issues. The Obesity Map uses data from the Canadian Community Health Survey to show obesity in Ontario by health region. The Smoking Map uses data from the same survey to show smoking rates in Ontario health regions.

Both maps seem to suggest that obesity and high levels of smoking in Ontario are more prevalent in northern and rural communities, whilst urban areas appear to have lower smoking rates and levels of obesity.

It would be interesting to know if a similar pattern was evident in other regions of Canada and in other countries. If you want to join the debate about why obesity and smoking is more prevalent in northern and rural Ontario both maps have interesting comment sections.

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