FGDC Publishes a Fact Sheet on the WDIN Global Wildlife Disease News Map

In September 2009, Technical Manager, Megan Hines, and Node Manager, Jennifer Carlino, of the NBII Wildlife Disease Information Node (WDIN) were interviewed about the WDIN Global Wildlife Disease News Map application by the Federal Geographic Data Committee's (FGDC) Geospatial Line of Business group.

The Disease Map displays recently published media reports in a geographical context allowing users to see where news-worthy wildlife disease events are occurring around the globe. Before disease outbreaks become well-known, they often appear in informal sources, such as the news media. The Map visually organizes these news reports to show the global status of wildlife disease and to help government agencies and the general public stay abreast of ongoing developments. The Map also makes data freely available in compatible formats, which allows anyone to integrate this wildlife disease information with other applications, as seen in HealthMap.

The result of this interview generated a fact sheet on the project, highlighting the impact the application has had on WDIN internal business, as well as what the application has provided for external users from the general public to other government agencies. The fact sheet was recently made available on the Geospatial Line of Business website.

Links that may be useful:

• FGDC Geospatial Line of Business web page
• Other fact sheets
• WDIN Disease Map