InterAction, like many organizations, has access to tons of information about its projects but found that getting that information into a digestible format that answers its immediate questions was challenging. Plotting this data onto a dynamic map shows the bigger picture and lets you drill down to get the details.

In conjunction with USAID, InterAction came to us wanting to better visualize local development agencies’ capacity to prevent the spread of a catastrophic diseases like bird flu. InterAction had two goals with this project: to better collect data and program information from public health agencies working on the ground abroad, and to display this data in a way that makes it easy for policy makers to quickly understand the current capacity to respond to a disaster and identify gaps in capacity.

The Pandemic Preparedness Mapping site makes it simple to collect and display timely data with clarity. With this tool, public health workers abroad can go online and enter data about their programs through a simple online submission form. Their data is then immediately sent to InterAction staff in Washington, DC, who can then edit and approve it. Once the data is approved, it’s published automatically on a dynamic map. From there, anyone can see which areas have the capacity to respond to an outbreak of avian flu and which do not. Users can also export the data to KML format for display on Google Earth, opening up possibilities to integrate the data with other applications.

The end result is that InterAction now has an up-to-date “yellow pages” of public health organizations that can respond to an outbreak of avian flu and a timely view of their capacity to handle such a crisis.