Summary Epidemiologists,
veterinary medical officers and animal health technicians within
Veterinary Services (VS) are actively utilising global positioning
system (GPS) technology to obtain positional data on livestock and
poultry operations throughout the United States. Geospatial data,
if acquired for monitoring and surveillance purposes, are stored
within the VS Generic Database (GDB). If the information is collected
in response to an animal disease outbreak, the data are entered
into the Emergency Management Response System (EMRS). The Spatial
Epidemiology group within the Centers for Epidemiology and Animal
Health (CEAH) has established minimum data accuracy standards for
geodata acquisition. To ensure that field-collected geographic coordinates
meet these minimum standards, field personnel are trained in proper
data collection procedures. Positional accuracy is validated with
digital atlases, aerial photographs, Web-based parcel maps, or address
geocoding. Several geospatial methods and technologies are under
investigation for future use within VS. These include the direct
transfer of coordinates from GPS receivers to computers, GPS-enabled
digital cameras, tablet PCs, and GPS receivers preloaded with custom
ArcGIS™ maps – all with the objective of reducing transcription
and data entry errors and improving the ease of data collection
in the field
Keywords
Accuracy,
Animal disease, Coordinates, Emergencies, Geographic information
system, Global positioning system, Standards, Surveillance.
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