May 7, 2020

NAPSG Foundation recently joined forces with the National States Geographic Information Council (NSGIC) and the Urban Regional Information Systems Association (URISA) to establish the National Pandemic GIS & Informatics Task Force. The purpose of the task force is to develop a nationwide strategy and plan for unifying data, technology, and information sharing across the local, state, and Federal levels – to increase pandemic preparedness and unity of effort during response and recovery.

The task force is charged with providing thought leadership, expertise, and governance across the emergency management, public health, and technology/GIS communities. To kick-off this effort, the task force is developing a standard Playbook for Integrating GIS in Pandemic Response & Recovery that is based on the timeline of decisions and actions carried out by emergency managers and public health officials prior to, during, and after a pandemic. They are also rapidly developing a portal to curate and share out GIS-related best practices and toolkits among emergency management, public health, and technology/GIS communities for COVID-19.

We encourage our members to keep a pulse on this important initiative. NAPSG will be announcing opportunities to provide comments and feedback on the draft Playbook for Integrating GIS in Pandemic Response & Recovery, contribute best practices from the field, and become a part of ad-hoc working groups in support of the task force mission. Stay tuned for more details!

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June 2020 Update: The Strategy & Action Plan for the National Pandemic GIS & Informatics Task Force is now available. Access the action plan here!

February 2021 Update: The COVID-19 Tech & GIS After Action Report & Improvement Plan are now live. To access the AAR, click here!