Vector-Borne Disease Surveillance with QGIS

ASTHO is pleased to offer this learning opportunity created by Kurt Menke, with support from CDC’s Climate and Health Program. This training was developed to address specific requests from Insular Area Health Agencies (IAHAs) to help build capacity to address the health impacts associated with climate change. The seasonality, distribution, and prevalence of vector-borne diseases (VBDS) are influenced by climate factors, primarily temperature extremes and precipitation patterns. Climate change is likely to have both short- and long-term effects on VBD transmission and infection patterns. The goal of this online training is to provide geographic information system (GIS) tools and resources to IAHAs to assist in their surveillance of and response to vector-borne disease.

This is a self-paced online course. It covers common vector-borne disease surveillance (VBDS) spatial analysis workflows using the free and open source GIS desktop software QGIS. The course features anonymized real-world sample data from Madera, California. The data include:

  • Mosquito trap locations

  • Mosquito house calls (complaints)

  • Storm drain locations

  • Parcels

  • Mosquito virus testing

The course begins with an introduction to the Community Health Maps program and the QGIS project. From there you begin learning the QGIS interface. You will learn to add different types of data, symbolize them and produce a map. The course then builds on these skills as you learn to work with the data to chart mosquito populations across time. You will learn to calculate important VBDS metrics, such as females per trap night and the minimum infection rate for specific viruses. Data visualization techniques are also covered including creating heat-maps of mosquito populations and animating biting complaints through time. You will learn to do basic spatial analysis. You will calculate important VBDS rates, such as females per trap per night and the minimum infection rate of mosquitoes. The course concludes with field data collection using smartphones and tablets. You will learn to do this with a completely free set of QGIS related apps named Mergin Maps.

The course has seven sections:

  1. Introduction - An introduction covering the course, the course data, the Community Health Maps program and the QGIS project.

  2. Add Data and Learn the QGIS Interface - Learn to add, manage and symbolize data in QGIS.

  3. Investigating the Data - Learn how to explore and chart the data.

  4. Mapping Mosquitos - Learn how to filter layers, create heatmaps and generate a professional print composition.

  5. Spatial Analysis - Investigate mosquito house calls, compute abundance by zone and the minimum infection rate. Conduct an outbreak response analysis.

  6. Data Visualization - Animate the mosquito house calls through time.

  7. Field Data Collection - Learn to use a QGIS related app to collect data in your community.

Learning Objectives

At the conclusion of this course you will:

  • Understand the Community Health Maps program.

  • Know how to add and symbolize data in QGIS using both Layer Properties and the Layer Styling Panel.

  • Understand how to work with projections in QGIS.

  • Know how to export data into a GeoPackage.

  • Know how to get statistics on the number of features in a layer, and summary statistics on layer attributes.

  • Know how to filter a layer and create a heatmap from mosquito points.

  • Know how to create a map composition in QGIS.

  • Know how to install and use QGIS plugins.

  • Understand how to conduct basic spatial analyses.

  • Be able to accurately calculate the minimum infection rate and females per trap night.

  • Know the steps in creating an Inverted Polygon Shapeburst Fill effect.

  • Know how to animate temporal data with the Temporal Controller.

  • Know how to use QGIS and Mergin Maps to collect field data.

Required Resources

Hardware: Laptop or PC with at least 8GB RAM (16 recommended), mouse, internet connection

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