Early warning and response are key to tackle emerging and acute public health risks globally. The... more Early warning and response are key to tackle emerging and acute public health risks globally. Therefore, the World Health Organization (WHO) has implemented a robust approach to public health intelligence (PHI) for the global detection, verification and risk assessment of acute public health threats. WHO’s PHI operations are underpinned by the International Health Regulations (2005), which require that countries strengthen surveillance efforts, and assess, notify and verify events that may constitute a public health emergency of international concern (PHEIC). PHI activities at WHO are conducted systematically at WHO’s headquarters and all six regional offices continuously, throughout every day of the year. We describe four interlinked steps; detection, verification, risk assessment, and reporting and dissemination. For PHI operations, a diverse and interdisciplinary workforce is needed. Overall, PHI is a key feature of the global health architecture and will only become more promine...
The onset of the COVID-19 pandemic triggered a rapid scale-up in the use of genomic surveillance ... more The onset of the COVID-19 pandemic triggered a rapid scale-up in the use of genomic surveillance as a pandemic preparedness and response tool. As a result, the number of countries with in-country SARS-CoV-2 genomic sequencing capability increased by 40% from February 2021 to July 2022. The Global Genomic Surveillance Strategy for Pathogens with Pandemic and Epidemic Potential 2022–2032 was launched by the World Health Organization (WHO) in March 2022 to bring greater coherence to ongoing work to strengthen genomic surveillance. This paper describes how WHO’s tailored regional approaches contribute to expanding and further institutionalizing the use of genomic surveillance to guide pandemic preparedness and response measures as part of a harmonized global undertaking. Challenges to achieving this vision include difficulties obtaining sequencing equipment and supplies, shortages of skilled staff, and obstacles to maximizing the utility of genomic data to inform risk assessment and pub...
Abstract Information spaces are increasingly used to visualize complex data. With geospatial data... more Abstract Information spaces are increasingly used to visualize complex data. With geospatial data specifically, there is a growing need for more flexible, accurate and usable information spaces to support exploratory analysis. Here, we present a prototype exploratory geovisualization environment based on a usability framework. The environment implements a self-organizing map neural network algorithm, and relates spatial analysis, datamining and knowledge discovery methods for the extraction of patterns. Some graphical ...
This chapter provides an introduction of methods and research questions associated with user-cent... more This chapter provides an introduction of methods and research questions associated with user-centered geovisualization tool design, bridging the gap between developers and users. To stimulate the development of geovisualization theory, issues from Computer Science, Information Visualization, Geoinformation Science, Geography, and Cartography are discussed. Influenced by recent developments within the Human-Computer Interaction (HCI) community developers of geovisualization environments are becoming increasingly concerned with the usability of their tools. Currently, most geovisualization is based on accumulated experience codified in procedures, written design rules, and unwritten individual and group knowledge. Geovisualization theory can be divided into two broad categories: that comes from other disciplines such as Perceptual Science, Cognitive Science, or applied disciplines such as Human-Computer Interaction. There is also theory developed specifically in the context of geovisualization. Although theory may originate from some other disciplines, the role of geovisualization researchers will be to extend it in ways that are specific to geovisualization. Nowadays geovisualization tools are applied in and developed for a broader geosoftware market with the goal of providing useful and usable geovisualization.
Here we present work in progress on the G-EX Portal, a web repository designed to facilitate inve... more Here we present work in progress on the G-EX Portal, a web repository designed to facilitate investigator-to-investigator research dissemination on the application of geographic exploration and analysis tools in cancer control and surveillance. The G-EX Portal is intended to serve four major tasks: to provide access to interactive tutorials for new geovisual tools and analytical methods, to search for multimedia research content, to enable basic different-place, different-time collaboration with geovisual multimedia, and to support peer review of geovisual analytic work. This paper presents our initial design and implementation work for the G-EX portal. Our design and development effort features two major parallel streams. First, we are designing interactive web interfaces for the four major G-EX tasks. Second, we are implementing extensions to existing geovisual analytic tools in order to allow users to easily export annotated images and multimedia clips, project descriptions, data...
This report describes research activities in respect to a specific form of educational cooperativ... more This report describes research activities in respect to a specific form of educational cooperative computing: the collaboratory. Since this term was minted by William Wulf, to serve as an indication for virtual co-operative research groups and educational workgroups, it has drawn considerable attention. Especially in the framework of higher education and national scale research programs, developments in respect to Internet 2 in the U. S. stress this concept. Within the setting of the MESH project and hosted within the MESH - SURFnet education and co-operation pilots, research, design, and development work has been carried out in order to be able to clarify the options and possibilities for an educational collaboratory involving initially the University of Twente and the Technical University Delft. Collaboratories are domain dependent. The collaboratory activities reported upon are situated in the field of educational software design and - development. Within the pilots, researchers,...
Disaster management is capturing increasing attention from researchers across many disciplines (g... more Disaster management is capturing increasing attention from researchers across many disciplines (geography, sociology, operations research, and a range of other social, environmental, and information sciences). In geographic information science, important research efforts are targeting better collection and analysis of geospatial data on disasters, representation of risks and vulnerability, integration of physical processes and social models to enhance the prediction of hazard impact, and a range of information access, analysis, and problem-solving tools that support individual and joint work across the disaster management process. This chapter provides a framework for the design of geocollaborative environments. These environments are intended to support disaster management activities, through group interaction and collaboration that is enabled by access to relevant geographic information through geographic information technologies designed to support group as well as individual wor...
New data acquisition techniques are offering tremendous opportunities that result in more and mor... more New data acquisition techniques are offering tremendous opportunities that result in more and more geospatial data to be handled. Analyzing these data becomes a difficult task due to the size of datasets, their complexity, scaling problems, and hidden patterns. The complexity of the attribute or feature space in such large datasets as well as related computational burdens, do not always allow traditional deductive and statistically based approaches to analysis to scale well to the data. Like many techniques applied to data analysis (statistical methods, artificial intelligence using rulebased systems and decision trees), Artificial Neural Networks are an emerging solution for data analysis and pattern recognition. Among the Neural Network models, Self-Organizing Map (SOM) is often seen as a promising technique for exploratory analysis of data. There is also an increasing need to organize and support users information exploration in a way that reduces complexity and facilitates the ...
In this research, we explore the integration of computational and visual approaches, to contribut... more In this research, we explore the integration of computational and visual approaches, to contribute to the analysis of complex geospatial data. Computational analysis based on the SOM is used in a framework for data mining, knowledge discovery and spatial analysis, for uncovering the structure, patterns, relationships and trends in the data. The framework is informed by current understanding of the effective application of visual variables for cartographic and information design, by developing theories on interface metaphors for geospatial information displays, and by previous empirical studies of map and information visualization effectiveness. It is used to facilitate the knowledge construction process by supporting user's exploratory tasks in a number of ways, including a scenario for better use of the representational spaces. The ultimate goal is to support visual data mining and exploration, and gain insights into underlying distributions, patterns and trends, and thus contr...
This report describes research activities in respect to a specific form of educational cooperativ... more This report describes research activities in respect to a specific form of educational cooperative computing: the collaboratory. Since this term was minted by William Wulf, to serve as an indication for virtual co-operative research groups and educational workgroups, it has drawn considerable attention. Especially in the framework of higher education and national scale research programs, developments in respect to Internet 2 in the U. S. stress this concept. Within the setting of the MESH project and hosted within the MESH SURFnet education and co-operation pilots, research, design, and development work has been carried out in order to be able to clarify the options and possibilities for an educational collaboratory involving initially the University of Twente and the Technical University Delft. Collaboratories are domain dependent. The collaboratory activities reported upon are situated in the field of educational software design and development. Within the pilots, researchers, tea...
Early warning and response are key to tackle emerging and acute public health risks globally. The... more Early warning and response are key to tackle emerging and acute public health risks globally. Therefore, the World Health Organization (WHO) has implemented a robust approach to public health intelligence (PHI) for the global detection, verification and risk assessment of acute public health threats. WHO’s PHI operations are underpinned by the International Health Regulations (2005), which require that countries strengthen surveillance efforts, and assess, notify and verify events that may constitute a public health emergency of international concern (PHEIC). PHI activities at WHO are conducted systematically at WHO’s headquarters and all six regional offices continuously, throughout every day of the year. We describe four interlinked steps; detection, verification, risk assessment, and reporting and dissemination. For PHI operations, a diverse and interdisciplinary workforce is needed. Overall, PHI is a key feature of the global health architecture and will only become more promine...
The onset of the COVID-19 pandemic triggered a rapid scale-up in the use of genomic surveillance ... more The onset of the COVID-19 pandemic triggered a rapid scale-up in the use of genomic surveillance as a pandemic preparedness and response tool. As a result, the number of countries with in-country SARS-CoV-2 genomic sequencing capability increased by 40% from February 2021 to July 2022. The Global Genomic Surveillance Strategy for Pathogens with Pandemic and Epidemic Potential 2022–2032 was launched by the World Health Organization (WHO) in March 2022 to bring greater coherence to ongoing work to strengthen genomic surveillance. This paper describes how WHO’s tailored regional approaches contribute to expanding and further institutionalizing the use of genomic surveillance to guide pandemic preparedness and response measures as part of a harmonized global undertaking. Challenges to achieving this vision include difficulties obtaining sequencing equipment and supplies, shortages of skilled staff, and obstacles to maximizing the utility of genomic data to inform risk assessment and pub...
Abstract Information spaces are increasingly used to visualize complex data. With geospatial data... more Abstract Information spaces are increasingly used to visualize complex data. With geospatial data specifically, there is a growing need for more flexible, accurate and usable information spaces to support exploratory analysis. Here, we present a prototype exploratory geovisualization environment based on a usability framework. The environment implements a self-organizing map neural network algorithm, and relates spatial analysis, datamining and knowledge discovery methods for the extraction of patterns. Some graphical ...
This chapter provides an introduction of methods and research questions associated with user-cent... more This chapter provides an introduction of methods and research questions associated with user-centered geovisualization tool design, bridging the gap between developers and users. To stimulate the development of geovisualization theory, issues from Computer Science, Information Visualization, Geoinformation Science, Geography, and Cartography are discussed. Influenced by recent developments within the Human-Computer Interaction (HCI) community developers of geovisualization environments are becoming increasingly concerned with the usability of their tools. Currently, most geovisualization is based on accumulated experience codified in procedures, written design rules, and unwritten individual and group knowledge. Geovisualization theory can be divided into two broad categories: that comes from other disciplines such as Perceptual Science, Cognitive Science, or applied disciplines such as Human-Computer Interaction. There is also theory developed specifically in the context of geovisualization. Although theory may originate from some other disciplines, the role of geovisualization researchers will be to extend it in ways that are specific to geovisualization. Nowadays geovisualization tools are applied in and developed for a broader geosoftware market with the goal of providing useful and usable geovisualization.
Here we present work in progress on the G-EX Portal, a web repository designed to facilitate inve... more Here we present work in progress on the G-EX Portal, a web repository designed to facilitate investigator-to-investigator research dissemination on the application of geographic exploration and analysis tools in cancer control and surveillance. The G-EX Portal is intended to serve four major tasks: to provide access to interactive tutorials for new geovisual tools and analytical methods, to search for multimedia research content, to enable basic different-place, different-time collaboration with geovisual multimedia, and to support peer review of geovisual analytic work. This paper presents our initial design and implementation work for the G-EX portal. Our design and development effort features two major parallel streams. First, we are designing interactive web interfaces for the four major G-EX tasks. Second, we are implementing extensions to existing geovisual analytic tools in order to allow users to easily export annotated images and multimedia clips, project descriptions, data...
This report describes research activities in respect to a specific form of educational cooperativ... more This report describes research activities in respect to a specific form of educational cooperative computing: the collaboratory. Since this term was minted by William Wulf, to serve as an indication for virtual co-operative research groups and educational workgroups, it has drawn considerable attention. Especially in the framework of higher education and national scale research programs, developments in respect to Internet 2 in the U. S. stress this concept. Within the setting of the MESH project and hosted within the MESH - SURFnet education and co-operation pilots, research, design, and development work has been carried out in order to be able to clarify the options and possibilities for an educational collaboratory involving initially the University of Twente and the Technical University Delft. Collaboratories are domain dependent. The collaboratory activities reported upon are situated in the field of educational software design and - development. Within the pilots, researchers,...
Disaster management is capturing increasing attention from researchers across many disciplines (g... more Disaster management is capturing increasing attention from researchers across many disciplines (geography, sociology, operations research, and a range of other social, environmental, and information sciences). In geographic information science, important research efforts are targeting better collection and analysis of geospatial data on disasters, representation of risks and vulnerability, integration of physical processes and social models to enhance the prediction of hazard impact, and a range of information access, analysis, and problem-solving tools that support individual and joint work across the disaster management process. This chapter provides a framework for the design of geocollaborative environments. These environments are intended to support disaster management activities, through group interaction and collaboration that is enabled by access to relevant geographic information through geographic information technologies designed to support group as well as individual wor...
New data acquisition techniques are offering tremendous opportunities that result in more and mor... more New data acquisition techniques are offering tremendous opportunities that result in more and more geospatial data to be handled. Analyzing these data becomes a difficult task due to the size of datasets, their complexity, scaling problems, and hidden patterns. The complexity of the attribute or feature space in such large datasets as well as related computational burdens, do not always allow traditional deductive and statistically based approaches to analysis to scale well to the data. Like many techniques applied to data analysis (statistical methods, artificial intelligence using rulebased systems and decision trees), Artificial Neural Networks are an emerging solution for data analysis and pattern recognition. Among the Neural Network models, Self-Organizing Map (SOM) is often seen as a promising technique for exploratory analysis of data. There is also an increasing need to organize and support users information exploration in a way that reduces complexity and facilitates the ...
In this research, we explore the integration of computational and visual approaches, to contribut... more In this research, we explore the integration of computational and visual approaches, to contribute to the analysis of complex geospatial data. Computational analysis based on the SOM is used in a framework for data mining, knowledge discovery and spatial analysis, for uncovering the structure, patterns, relationships and trends in the data. The framework is informed by current understanding of the effective application of visual variables for cartographic and information design, by developing theories on interface metaphors for geospatial information displays, and by previous empirical studies of map and information visualization effectiveness. It is used to facilitate the knowledge construction process by supporting user's exploratory tasks in a number of ways, including a scenario for better use of the representational spaces. The ultimate goal is to support visual data mining and exploration, and gain insights into underlying distributions, patterns and trends, and thus contr...
This report describes research activities in respect to a specific form of educational cooperativ... more This report describes research activities in respect to a specific form of educational cooperative computing: the collaboratory. Since this term was minted by William Wulf, to serve as an indication for virtual co-operative research groups and educational workgroups, it has drawn considerable attention. Especially in the framework of higher education and national scale research programs, developments in respect to Internet 2 in the U. S. stress this concept. Within the setting of the MESH project and hosted within the MESH SURFnet education and co-operation pilots, research, design, and development work has been carried out in order to be able to clarify the options and possibilities for an educational collaboratory involving initially the University of Twente and the Technical University Delft. Collaboratories are domain dependent. The collaboratory activities reported upon are situated in the field of educational software design and development. Within the pilots, researchers, tea...
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