March 30, 2024

The Research and Innovation Office of the University of the Cordilleras has deployed a system powered by Geographic Information System that enables real-time reporting, inter-agency data sharing, and geographic visualization of Covid-19 cases in the Cordillera.

GIS Cloud, a partner of the university, and ESRI’s ArcGIS Online are web- and mobile-based platforms that will be used in real-time reporting, data collection and analysis, and surveillance of Covid-19 cases. The required data will be sourced from multi-agency and stakeholder data input from reports of local government units and various government agencies.

The data collected will be transformed into GIS and Web GIS formats to produce various types of maps such as Chloropleth and Point Maps of Covid-19 cases, critical maps of facilities with contact details, and community needs maps and relief operations maps to help in the coordination of various relief initiatives.

The maps produced from the data will provide a visualization of the cases to provide deeper insight on the situation to enable the planning of effective response such as on contact tracing.

Project leader Engr. Nathaniel Vincent A. Lubrica said the project aims to develop a harmonized framework for data collaboration to aid in informed and data-driven decision-making, efficient needs response, and enhanced public participation among stakeholders.

The project has been coordinated with the local government units of Baguio, La Trinidad, Itogon, Sablan, Tuba, and Tublay; and the regional offices of departments of Health, Social Welfare and Development, Science and Technology, Interior and Local Government, and Office of Civil Defense.

A two-day workshop for the LGUs and government agencies was held on April 15 to 16 in preparation for the full rollout of the program in their respective localities.

During the training, other potential uses of the platform were identified, such as on internal organizational operations and reporting, manpower and logistics deployment, mass survey, situational reports, and policy dissemination. – Press release