The Mapping Core will provide complete support for all geospatial aspects of the Myanmar Regional ICEMR's mission, including geospatial and remote sensing data collection, mapping of the study sites at multiple spatial scales (e.g. village and regional level), geostatistical analysis of clinical, genetic, entomological, environmental, and sociodemographic variables. The Core will develop a state-of-the-art, online sharing platform for the project team to use and share their mapping and analyses results for all study site locations in Myanmar, China, and Bangladesh. The Mapping Core will direct and manage the extensive geospatial data collection efforts for all three countries where the ICEMR is operational in order to support the mapping and analyses planned for this project. Where possible, the Mapping Core will use open source data sources for its geospatial data. The data collection will include data on geographic features, sociodemographic data, land use/land cover data, environmental data, and an archive of existing satellite-based image datasets required for the development of custom datasets in support of research investigations for all of the proposed ICEMR research projects. The Mapping Core will provide full support for geostatistical analyses including spatial cluster and hotspot mapping, spatial interpolation, spatial autocorrelation and spatial regression. Mobility modeling proposed as part of the ICEMR research will utilize spatial network and trajectory analyses. Using the latest software tools for online web mapping and sharing map layers, all project maps and results of geospatial and remote sensing analyses will be shared online through a public and private-facing website where researchers can easily find, review, and download maps and data in a variety of open formats. Results from all spatial data analyses for the three research projects will be shared in this single site and integrated to create a state-of-the- art malaria risk decision support system that combines clinical findings with environmental, remote sensing, mobility, vector, and parasite modeling research outcomes. Mapping Core activities will be undertaken by a collaborating team in Myanmar, China, Bangladesh and the U.S. We will train a new generation of geospatial experts from the ICEMR in-country partner institutions who will work together to develop a comprehensive and novel online web site dedicated to mapping malaria transmission and risk. The site will initially be served from the University of Maryland, however in-country ICEMR geospatial specialists will be trained in web mapping and learn how to independently add their own geospatial results, and develop their own decision support tools as part of the ongoing projects, such that by the end of the project, this will be managed entirely by in-country geospatial teams.
