COVID-19 Real-Time Monitoring and Mapping using Geospatial Technology

In December 2019, a new virus (termed 'Novel Coronavirus ' at the time and of course changed its name SARS-CoV-2) starting to cause severe acute respiratory syndrome (coronavirus disease COVID-19) emerged in Wuhan, Hubei Province, China, and quickly spread to other areas of China and other nations around the globe. The agencies that used geographic information system (GIS) technology for COVID-19 differed from local to international.

The prevalent use of GIS for COVID-19 response has illustrated the potential of geospatial thinking as well as GIS's manageability, pace, and knowledge. GIS uses geography to provide the setting for events in a common reference system, rather than simply mapping anomalies. GIS, by utilizing spatial analysis tools, reveals relationships, patterns, and associations that are frequently hidden by the ambiguity of data.

Spatio-temporal Analysis of COVID-19

The COVID-19 pandemic is littered with unknown factors, many of which have a spatial dimension, making sense of the symptom as geographical and potentially mappable. Consequently, from the standpoint of health science, research may be needed to include the ability to penetrate multiple variables to interpret the COVID-19 occurrence, its spatial analysis and spatiotemporal dimensions, its geographical impact on decision-making and daily life, and predictive analysis of disease evolution. For all these cases, the use of geospatial and statistical tools has become especially important since COVID-19 was declared a global pandemic.

Explaining the spatiotemporal dynamics of COVID-19 is critical for mitigating it because it clarifies the scope and influence of the pandemic and can aid decision-making, making plans, and collective action. Even so, traditional mapping, and more recently GIS, had also long been considered as vital tools in tracking and tackling the spread of disease by medical professionals.

Various GIS software and techniques for reducing the spread by imposing lockdowns and contact tracing were applied and widely accepted. The web-based near-real-time COVID dashboard created by Johns Hopkins University is the best illustration of GIS application during this pandemic. Subsequently, the WHO and other local and regional supervisory authorities followed the same.

GIS-Based COVID-19 Mapping

The biggest advantage of GIS is that it allows humans to map the different locations of the country and other services on a dashboard, which aids in superior monitoring and surveillance. In addition, an extensive study on disease forecasting, outbreak prediction, disease cluster or hotspot identification, and comparing alternative strategies to prevent the spread of infectious diseases is possible. Geospatial sectors have come to the aid of many people in times of crisis and disaster by assisting with relief and recovery activities. In the case of COVID-19, geospatial societies are taking a proactive approach to monitor the virus's spread.

Summary

 Although, the use of spatial analysis tools, methods, and GIS platforms provides numerous benefits to the research community and practitioners. These advantages include clear and concise and much more intelligible visual representation, real-time tracking of confirmed and reported case numbers, contact tracing, spread direction, and the ability to recognize hotspots to limit dispersion and public spread.