GRASP Tom Tom GIS Data Product

ATSDR’s Geospatial Research, Analysis, & Services Program (GRASP) is on the forefront of the use of spatial analysis tools for public health applications. Activities include demographic analyses, medical geography, exposure assessment and contaminant modeling. Scientists in the program use US Census data, health outcome data, commercial vendor-supplied data, and contaminant data collected by State and Federal agencies and their contractors to address public health related issues related to potential exposure to hazardous substances in the environment. In addition, field personnel collect spatial data at sites using global positioning system (GPS) technology for integration within the GIS. GRASP provides GIS support to the CDC Emergency Operations Center and is responsible for staffing field teams and assisting in the operation of field investigations. The rapid response team assists program areas in the analysis of factors related to current disease outbreaks, emergency exposures, and other natural and man-made events, provides technical assistance in the collection of information in a spatial context, and establishes protocols for GIS products and services in the field and in the operations centers. This unit functions as the primary point of contact with NCEH-ATSDR Office of Environmental Health Emergencies in the areas of terrorism preparedness and emergency response. Since the fall of 2001, the GRASP has been providing GIS support to emergency operations at CDC. When the new EOC was completed in March of 2003, GRASP was requested to provide GIS staffing at the EOC. Staffing began on March 10, 2003. Since that time GIS has been involved full-time in the events that the EOC responds to such as the Monkeypox outbreak, West Nile Virus, hurricanes in Florida, the H5N1 epidemic, the Haiti earthquake, and a number of exercises. GIS is a fully integrated part of the EOC and may even be thought of as an annex of the main body of the GIS program. The program interfaces with many CIOs to provide the geographic products used in executive level public health management decisions. It is involved with building applications such as the personnel deployment mapping application, which tracks the geographic placement of CDC staff world-wide which helps manage assets in a public health emergency. An integral part of GRASP is the conceptualization, architecture, and direction of web/desktop- based GIS applications and of web services that make geospatial tools available to program and agency information systems. Additionally, the program maintains the enterprise-grade geospatial data warehouse that serves to create, manage, and store government, commercial and GPS field- derived geospatial data that is used throughout the program and agency in analysis, research, emergency response, and systems integration efforts. Examples of GRASP-supported GIS applications include web-based interactive atlases, web- based geospatial gazetteers, web services that contain components for spatial analysis and/or reporting, and desktop productivity tools for cartographic production and geospatial analysis. The geospatial data warehouse, which contains base map, socio-demographic, emergency response, environmental, hazard, and health resource data, is used by a wide array of individuals and all of the web-based applications. This requirement provides for the offeror toenable GRASP to use TomTom Enterprise GIS Data Products within GRASP map products, web-based applications, and analysis projects. GRASP will use the TomTom Enterprise GIS Data Product to support public health objectives in the areas of (1) environmental exposure analysis, (2) chronic and infectious disease surveillance, tracking, and reporting, and (3) emergency preparedness & response. The GIS data product will significantly enhance GRASP's ability to develop final products such as maps, analytic reports, and indices on a variety of public health topics.The TomTom Enterprise GIS Data Products will be used with data from government agencies, other commercial vendors, public health partners, and NGOs.