An interactive mapping tool for population health data Rita Zhang, MPH Epidemiologist Population & Public Health Program Provincial Health Services Authority Bob Nicholson, MA Business Analyst Strategic Initiatives Division Government Communication and Public Engagement November 5, 2014
Overview of presentation About PHSA-PPH and DataBC Rationale/background of project development Methods Concept Indicator themes & Data sources Architecture Application demo Overview Utilization Conclusions 2
Population & Public Health Program (PPH) at Provincial Health Services Authority Who we are Program of Provincial Health Services Authority (PHSA) since 2005 Collaborative partner with various groups across BC Our vision To catalyze joint solutions for British Columbia s health & well-being What we do Inform and advise policy & practice on chronic disease prevention for emerging & priority population health issues via: Knowledge generation & synthesis Linkage & knowledge exchange Capacity building Current priorities are health equity & healthy weights www.phsa.ca/populationhealth 3
Who we are DataBC is an agency of the Government of British Columbia Collaborative partner with various groups across BC Our vision DataBC is the place to find BC Government data, and associated services, applications and tools What we do Access to Government Data Provincial Spatial Data Infrastructure: Warehouse, catalogue, download, visualization and connection services Map application frameworks and location services Open Data Citizen Engagement 4
Rationale/background of project development Health indicators Quantifiable characteristics of a population used as supporting evidence for describing the health of a population e.g. life expectancy, prevalence rate of diabetes In BC, health authorities and local decision makers depend on reliable health indicator data to plan effective and targeted programs and policies 5
Rationale/background of project development Over 200 common indicators Various level of geography Need a flexible data dissemination vehicle to inform policy and program planning at the local community level. 6
Concept BC Community Health Atlas project evolved through an iterative process Partnership of PHSA with the Ministry of Health, BC Stats, DataBC, and Island Health Web-based, interactive mapping tool that provides user-friendly access to reliable data Over 200 indicators related to community health and well-being Tool for local, regional, and provincial planning and decision making 7
Indicators and data sources Indicator themes Demographics Economic conditions Education Labour market conditions Health Children Youth Data sources BC Stats: Socio-Economic Profiles Ministry of Health: Chronic Disease Registries; Vital Statistics Statistics Canada: 2006 and 2011 Census Ministry of Education: School Satisfaction Survey; Foundational Skills Assessment 8
Architecture Internet Mapping Framework 2 (IMF2) Utilizes ArcGIS Server and Geocortex Essentials to provide a rich tool set for users on multiple viewer platforms (i.e Silverlight or HTML 5) - Connects to British Columbia Geographic Warehouse - Includes a middleware component to provide dynamic layers and layer level security - 9
Architecture Logical Implementation 10
Architecture Putting it all together Health indicator data is stored in an application database Indicators are dynamically joined with spatial elements (health areas or school districts) User control over colour ramps and data segmentation 11
Application overview http://www.phsa.ca/communityhealthatlas 12
Application overview 13
Application overview 14
Application demo http://maps.gov.bc.ca/ess/sv/cha/ 15
Summary A cornerstone GIS application to population health in BC Data visualization Data dissemination Web-based interactive mapping tool that displays indicators of population health Indicators can be mapped by local geographies Choropleth maps allow visualization of provincial patterns Hosts data on over 200 indicators related to community health and well-being Allows downloading of reliable data Dynamic database to provide timely and up-to-date data to serve the users Additional functionalities 16
User feedback Voluntary users experience survey Pre-release phase collected qualitative feedback to inform enhancements prior to public release Qualitative feedback from before and after release informed further possible enhancements Uses of the application Explore differences in communities Find information about one community/area Explore the variety of indicators available for BC Look at one indicator across BC Inform local governments and other community stakeholders of the Atlas 17
Next steps Maintain application to ensure its continued availability Update the indicator data as they become available Enhance functionality 18
Acknowledgements Project Sponsor: Project Lead: Lydia Drasic Dr. Drona Rasali Teams and Contributors: PHSA Population and Public Health BC Ministry of Health BC Stats Island Health Latitude Geographics DataBC GeoBC 19
Questions For additional information on the BC Community Health Atlas, contact pph@phsa.ca 20