FOCUS ON:
Renewed GeoConnections
The 2010 Federal Budget announced renewed funding for the GeoConnections program. The Budget provides $11 million in funding over the next two years to continue development of the Canadian Geospatial Data Infrastructure (CGDI) and to provide consolidated geographic-related information to Canadians via the Internet.
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June 15 2010 Results of Data Needs Assessment for Integrated Landscape Management Decision-Making Processes Now AvailableUpcoming Events
Resources & Tools
VIHA GIS Capacity Building and User Needs Assessment Project
This project will increase geographic information system (GIS) capacity in the Vancouver Island Health Authority (VIHA) by providing training and acquiring special software. A 2007 study indicated that VIHA also would benefit from a geospatial decision support system. The project will also generate a user needs assessment that will assist VIHA to develop a geospatial decision support system. The user needs assessment will identify this system's user communities and document their needs.
Serving a population greater than 700,000, VIHA intends to use this project to provide more efficient and higher quality health care. Specifically, VIHA expects the project to provide technical staff and decision-makers with the GIS skills, software, and capacity to make more informed decisions about programs, health service delivery, and community health planning. Training will improve VIHA's ability to respond to GIS requests.
This project will give VIHA staff the ability to take advantage of the Canadian Geospatial Data Infrastructure (CGDI), which supports better decisions by providing more complete data. The VIHA also intends to expand an existing Web Map Service health atlas (www.viha.ca/atlas) and make it available through GeoConnections' Discovery Portal.
GeoConnections is assisting public health organizations to use geospatially referenced information about health status, and factors that affect health. These factors can be biological, behavioural, social, economic, or cultural. Organizations use this information to make correlations and identify priorities and strategies to improve and protect health, and the factors that influence it. In addition, public health organizations are expanding their knowledge and use of geospatial information and tools which helps them analyze and share information. This project co-funded under the Population Health Surveillance GeoConnections priority area.
Primary Partner:
Vancouver Island Health Authority
Victoria,
British Columbia;
Partners:
Vancouver Coastal Health Authority
Interior Health Authority
Sooke Region Community Health Initiative
Britisih Columbia Center for Disease Control
Funding From GeoConnections: $72,945.00 ( 55.99 %)
Estimated Inception Date: December, 2008
Estimated Completion Date: May, 2009
Deliverables from this project benefitted the following provinces: British Columbia;