SUNY Canton Students Create US-based Coronavirus Tracking Map

Students in SUNY Canton’s Crime Mapping course are using their newly acquired knowledge of geographic information systems (GIS) mapping to track coronavirus cases in the United States.

“We use daily situational reports from the World Health Organization combined with open-source news to determine exact event locations,” said Lecturer Nicholas S. Wildey, who teaches in the Center for Criminal Justice, Intelligence and Cybersecurity. “Detailed outbreak maps help us understand the spread of the disease and provide useful information for emergency planners.”

Wildey said that while there are a number of maps and dashboards to track the coronavirus, including one created by Johns Hopkins University, his class saw the need to develop one dedicated to instances in North America.

The class is focused on using a web-based version of ArcView GIS by mapping company Esri. The map pinpoints locations of noted cases with an orange dot. The larger the dot, the more cases are known in that area. There are approximately 15 known cases in the U.S.

Typically, students use the software to map crime instances. This is a valuable tool among professional law enforcement because it can help spot local and national patterns.