Summary
Simulation
modelling is a tool that can be used to investigate the effectiveness
and efficiency of exotic disease control, eradication and surveillance
strategies. The Australian Government Department of Agriculture, Fisheries
and Forestry (DAFF) has been involved with disease simulation modelling
for more than 10 years. Although the focus has been on foot and
mouth disease, models are now being developed for avian influenza,
classical swine fever and other diseases. Recent models are spatially
explicit, and incorporate a range of animal species and production
types. The models also encompass a range of disease transmission pathways,
including farm-to-farm animal movements, movements through saleyards,
windborne spread, spread by feral animals and the less well-defined
phenomenon of local spread. The DAFF spatial models are unique in
that they are developed within the environment of a geographic information
system (GIS) MapBasic/MapInfo. This simplifies the spatial
elements of their code and improves their ability to handle spatial
data layers. Such layers vary, but may include the following: farm
locations or boundaries; masks identifying grazing; cropping and non-agricultural
land; water bodies and waterways; population centres, administrative
boundaries and roadways; vegetation and other land cover masks; and,
where relevant, elevation. The GIS environment also provides immediate
access to sophisticated maps and tabular outputs.
Keywords
Australia,
Geographic information system, MapBasic, MapInfo, Modelling, Simulation.
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