The Satellite Imagery Source

Search Image Hunter Now
Posted on April 4th, 2017

Real Life Map Mavin Applications: Malaria Spray Program – A Case Study

Map Mavin allows users to make useful maps quickly online, and without the need for a desktop program. These maps can be shared live with other users across the globe, bringing a new degree of collaboration to online mapping; and thus opening a whole new realm of potential opportunities to work with spatial data in real time.

In this case study, we will look at how a Peace Corps health team could use Map Mavin to more effectively implement a spray campaign to prevent the spread of malaria in a tropical setting.

Scenario

A team of Peace Corps volunteers are on the ground in central Mozambique, traveling from hut to hut to determine whether or not a house is in need of and qualified for a spray treatment designed to prevent the spread of malaria. While the Peace Corps volunteers are responsible for deciding if a home will receive the treatment, the volunteers do not actually provide or apply the spray themselves. This is the responsibility of a US-based pesticides team that will be deployed once the Peace Corps volunteers have selected the houses to be treated. The problem is how to best inform the US team, which will not arrive for weeks, as to where they need to go in an area with limited maps, hard-to-navigate roads and a significant language barrier.

Solution

Using Map Mavin, the Peace Corps team is able to log on and create points over each home that requires the spray treatment. The team decides to make the points large and transparent so that the building footprints can be still be seen, making it easier to navigate around the homes on the web map. While it may appear at first glance that the best route to each hut is via a main road at the center of the village, the volunteers on the ground are aware of the changes that recent heavy rains made to the route. Instead, they use the Map Mavin redlining tool to plot a safe and navigable route between each of the houses in need of spraying.

While making all of these edits on the map, the Peace Corps team is simultaneously using Map Mavin’s Screen Share mode to share their map with the US-based pesticide team. With Screen Share’s ability to share screens and chat live with other users around the world, the Peace Corps team is easily able to type out specific directions for how best to navigate and enter each house; and the US team is in turn able to ask them any unanswered questions.

Weeks later, the US pesticide crew arrives in Mozambique, equipped with their saved Map Mavin map detailing exactly how to get to each spray location without having to worry about treacherous roads, language barriers or changes in the landscape.

This entry was posted in The Geospatial Times and tagged , , Bookmark the permalink.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

    The Geospatial Times Archive