A novel architecture of Web-GIS for mapping and analysis of echinococcosis in Poland

Echinococcosis is an infectious disease transferred through ingestion of food or water which has been contaminated with eggs of the Echinococcus tapeworm, which are spread by intermediate parasite hosts. Because the latter are primarily territorial, research related to diagnosis and prevention of echinococcosis requires investigation of environmental factors, which can be supported with the use of a Geographical Information System (GIS). In particular, since this type of research is usually performed by a team of medical researchers working individually with many patients, it can greatly benefit from the use of a Web-GIS, which provides remote access to data integration, storage and analysis tools. However, most existing Web-GIS solutions dedicated for disease mapping either exhibit limited functionality and interactivity (often due to the use of a thin-client approach) or are tied to a particular technological platform through a thick client based on a browser plugin. Moreover, few of the existing solutions provide user-friendly tools for data input, and none is directly integrated into the workflow of clinicians. This paper proposes a novel system architecture for Web-GIS dedicated to disease mapping, which attempts to optimize the use of client and server hardware resources while providing the user with a variety of analytic functionalities. The proposed architecture has been implemented in the form of a system for remote mapping and analysis of echinococcosis cases in Poland, which has been designed in cooperation with a major Polish hospital centre.