We are launching a new Special Issue “Harnessing Geospatial Big Data for Infectious Diseases” in the International Journal of Applied Earth Observation and Geoinformation (Elsevier) (Impact factor of 5.933).
Guest Editors:
Dr. Zhenlong Li, University of South Carolina, USA
Dr. Shengjie Lai, University of Southampton, UK
Dr. Kathleen Stewart, University of Maryland, USA
Dr. Bo Huang, Chinese University of Hong Kong, China
Dr. Xiaoming Li, University of South Carolina, USA
Submission deadline: December 31, 2022
Planned publication date: Spring 2023
Aims and Scope:
Public health is inextricably linked to geospatial context. Where, when, and how people interact with natural, social, built, economic and cultural environments directly influences human health outcomes, policy making, planning and implementation, especially for infectious diseases such as COVID-19, HIV, and influenza. Geospatial data has long been used in health studies, dating back to John Snows’ groundbreaking mapping of cholera outbreaks in London, and continuing today in a wide range of scientific inquiries, e.g., examining the effects of environmental, neighborhood, and demographic factors on health outcomes, understanding accessibility and utilization of health services, modeling the spread of infectious diseases, assessing the effectiveness of disease interventions, and developing better healthcare strategies to improve health outcomes and equity.
Emerging sources of geospatial big data, such as data collected from social sensing, remote sensing, and health sensing (health wearables) contain rich information about the environmental, social, population, and individual factors for health that are not available in traditional health data and population statistics. Along with innovative spatial and computing methodologies in GIScience, geospatial big data provides unprecedented opportunities for advancing the infecious disease research. The ongoing COVID-19 pandemic further highlights the demand on and the power of big data and spatial analysis in modeling, simulating, mapping, and predicting the spread of infectious diseases and their intervention across the world.
Along these lines, this special issue on “Harnessing Geospatial Big Data for Infectious Diseases” by the International Journal of Applied Earth Observation and Geoinformation aims to capture recent advancements in leveraging geospatial big data and spatial analysis in infectious disease-related research, such as disease mapping and cluster detection, early detection and warning of disease outbreaks, and spatial analysis and modeling of disease spread and control. We solicit original, unpublished research articles that shed light on the opportunities, challenges and solutions involving the use of geospatial big data for advancing infectious diseases research.
Potential topics include (but are not limited to) the following:
- Collection, processing, and integration of geospatial big data (e.g., satellite images, floor plans, 3D models, social media and mobile phone data) with health big data (e.g., electronic medical records) to extract geospatial context at various spatiotemporal scales (e.g., environmental risks, socioeconomic factors,and population mobility) to address infectious disease questions.
- Innovative methodologies for geospatial big data analytics in the context of infectious diseases, including geocomputation algorithms and geostatistical models. For example, assessing the effectiveness of non-pharmaceutical interventions in preventing the resurgence of COVID-19 using human mobility data.
- Combining geospatial big data with advanced computing technologies such as machine learning (ML) and geospatial artificial intelligence (GeoAI) to uncover hidden patterns and new information in infectious diseases related to, for example, the spreading, disparity, morbidity, and mortality of COVID-19.
- Developing accessible and resuable geovisualization and mapping methods, sharable data products, and online tools that help foster multidiscriplinary collaborations, engage community and facilitate public understanding and decision making during disease outbreaks such as the COIVD-19 pandemic.
Submission of manuscripts
Authors can submit manuscripts for the Special Issue using Editorial Manger®, the online submission system for the International Journal of Applied Earth Observation and Geoinformation. Please select ‘VSI:BigData&InfectiousDisease’ as the article type. Submitted manuscripts will be peer-reviewed according to the guidelines, available on the website, of the journal. Please note that articles will be published separately, in different volumes, after they are accepted, and will be grouped together online as a Special Issue. Submit your manuscript to https://www.editorialmanager.com/JAG/ by March 31, 2021.
JAG is an open access journal with an impact factor of 5.933. The special issue will include a maximum of 12 papers. We look forward to your contributions. Please do not hesitate to contact the Guest Editors in case of questions.
