Infonaut's Map of the Moment highlights a recent health-related map that we find both interesting and timely, and also demonstrates the power of using GIS mapping to display information.

Pandemic Spread and Airline Travel >> Here’s an interesting map from NASA showing flights over the United States over a period of 24 hours.

It’s important because researchers at Children's Hospital Boston recently completed a detailed analysis of influenza patterns indicating that the sharp dip in air travel after September 11, 2001 slowed flu spread and delayed the onset of the 2001-2002 U.S. flu season. >> [Read More]

This issue was raised again at a conference on Homeland Defense and Health in Denver, Colorado in October 2006. Apparently, there are over 800 cities you can reach within 1 day from Denver.

After the beginning of a Pandemic outbreak, how long do you think it would take before it reached your city?

The World Health Organization (WHO) realized a lot earlier what the effect is. Here is an update from the their website during the SARS outbreak:

23 April 2003

As a result of ongoing assessments as to the nature of outbreaks of severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) in Beijing and Shanxi Province, China, and in Toronto, Canada, WHO is now recommending, as a measure of precaution, that persons planning to travel to these destinations consider postponing all but essential travel.

Map Source: NASA

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