Enabling & Support

Mosquito habitat mapping service

17/11/2009 1487 views 0 likes

ESA / Enabling & Support / Preparing for the Future / Space for Earth / Space for health

The presence and spread of diseases transmissible by vectors (such as mosquitoes, ticks etc.) depends on diverse and interacting factors such as present distribution, climate, weather and wind patterns, proximity to water bodies, land use and vegetation. Hitchhiking on international trade and travel, foreign species may establish themselves in new environments world-wide if conditions are favourable. Trends such as global warming and land development also contribute to changes in vector distribution. Amongst others, mosquito-borne diseases (Chikungunya, Dengue and West Nile) are an increasing public health concern in many European countries. Pilot projects have demonstrated that it is possible to assess densities of local species and the risk of arrival of foreign species through modelling of the dependencies between habitat conditions, seasonal trends and in-situ sampling results.

VECMAP aims at assessing the viability of a tool and associated service for automated mosquito mapping and forecasting, integrating earth observation (EO) and satellite navigation assets with modelling, mapping and in-situ measurement techniques. To achieve this, four companies and one public-health agency have joined efforts to develop an integrated software package and a pilot service. The consortium combines their expertise in spatial modelling, the development of spatial information systems and palm-to-web tools, and of EO time-series production chains.

VECMAP Project Objectives

The overall purpose of the study is to prove the viability and sustainability of an integrated software package and/or service aimed at producing and delivering risk maps of mosquito presence and forecasts of their spread, based on the integration of Earth Observation data and GNSS navigation technologies with in-situ sampling, terrestrial communication, modelling algorithms and GIS representation tools. Assessed will be not only the technical but also the operational, legal and end-user point of view.

VECMAP Target Users

The main target users for these maps are public health authorities at regional, national, European and international level and several of these have already shown interest. Private companies such as private mosquito associations, insurance companies, pharmaceutical companies and insecticide producers may eventually also be targeted as some of them are already involved in some disease risk map projects and since prediction maps could help these companies adapt their activity (e.g. vaccine production) according to the forecasts.

User Needs

Experts and public health authorities in particular the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC) agree on the need to develop early warning systems for vector-borne diseases as shown with the recently established VBORNET network. For mosquito-borne diseases in particular, there is a clear need for maps to know where mosquitoes have been detected (presence/absence and density maps) and where they could be (spatial prediction maps to fill gaps in presence/absence and density maps). This is essential to optimize current surveillance networks and to develop these networks where they do not exist yet, in order to prevent or control mosquito-borne diseases.

VECMAP Service Features

The VECMAP service is based on combination of inputs from field work (in-situ samplings and measurements) and Earth Observation (EO) data (vegetation, land surface temperature, moisture, water bodies etc.). The in-situ data entered into a palm-to-web terminal is geo-referenced by GNSS and transferred to a central database using mobile communication technologies. In this manner the field work can be done remotely, effectively and independently. The raw EO data (e.g. narrow band optical and infra-red imagery) are pre-processed to generate habitat indicators such as the vegetation index. The VECMAP software product’s algorithms correlate and cross-calibrate both sets of results and generate spatial and temporal predictions of presence, spread and density. Depending on the uer’s needs a variety of graphical representations and interactive research is made possible through the engine for the Graphical Information System (GIS)-environment.

VECMAP Service Concept

From a sustainability and marketing point of view the consortium will explore the cost-efficiency and sustainability of different types of products and services which may come out of this study. Examples include: A commercial fully integrated user friendly software package for non-academic GIS users: e.g. national public health or local vector control agencies who want to plan their own activities. This will include a maintenance licence for upgrades and EO time series inputs. Modular ‘nuts and bolts’ shareware components for advanced academic users such as PhD students and research groups. A full service, i.e. VECMAP ‘Service Mode’, where the consortium acquires data and generates tailored outputs: e.g. a private company or international public health agency needing access to risk assessment maps and spatial analysis outputs.

Space added value for the project

The space assets used are: Earth observation: to provide environmental data (e.g. land surface temperature, vegetation, land use) to be used in prediction models based on both Low-Resolution Remote Sensing data for eco-climatic envelope and High-Resolution Remote-Sensing data for landscape and habitat Geo-localisation: for geo-localising ground data, e.g. mosquito traps or origin of disease cases as well as for field inspectors/teams to locate/control the areas at risks and for accurate follow-up of control operations.

ESA Project Manager

Norbert Hübner TIA-AF Norbert.Huebner @ esa.int