University of the Cordilleras deploys region-wide real time COVID-19 surveillance system

The University of the Cordilleras – Research and Innovation Office (UC-RIO) in Baguio City has deployed a system powered by Geographic Information System that enables real time reporting, inter-agency data sharing, and geographic visualization of COVID-19 cases in the Cordillera Administrative Region.

GIS Cloud, a partner of the university, and ESRI’s ArcGIS Online are web- and mobile-based platforms that will be used in real time reporting, data collection and analysis, and surveillance of COVID-19 cases. The required data will be sourced from multi-agency and stakeholder data input from reports of local government units (LGUs) and various government agencies.

The data collected will then be transformed into GIS and web GIS formats to produce various types of maps such as Chloropleth and Point Maps of COVID-19 cases, Critical Maps of Facilities with contact details, and Community Needs Maps and Relief Operations Maps to help in the coordination of various relief initiatives. The maps produced from the data will provide a visualization of the cases to provide deeper insight on the situation to enable the planning of effective response such as on contact tracing.

Project leader Engr. Nathaniel Vincent A. Lubrica of UC-RIO said that the project aims to develop a harmonized framework for data collaboration to aid in informed and data-driven decision making, efficient needs response, and enhanced public participation among stakeholders.

Since March 28, the project has been coordinated with the Baguio-La Trinidad-Itogon-Sablan-Tuba-Tublay (BLISTT) LGUs, and the Cordillera Regional Offices of Department of Health (DOH), Office of Civil Defense, Department of Science and Technology, Department of Social Welfare and Development, and the Department of Interior and Local Government.

A two-day workshop for the LGUs and government agencies was held on April 15-16 in preparation for the full rollout of the program in their respective localities. During the training, other potential utilizations of the platform were identified such as on internal organizational operations and reporting, manpower and logistics deployment, mass survey, situational reports, and policy dissemination.

The Geospatial Assessment and Modelling of Urban Heat Islands in Philippine Cities (Project GUHeat) aims to assess the development of urban heat islands in rapidly urbanizing and highly urbanized cities in the Philippines and develop models for estimating land surface temperatures (LST) and predicting urban heat islands (UHIs) by relating LST with environmental factors including land use - land cover distribution. This project is funded by the Innovation Council (Philippine Council for Industry, Energy, & Emerging Technology Research & Development of DOST (DOST-PCIEERD) and is implemented by the University of the Philippines Training Center for Applied Geodesy and Photogrammetry (UP TCAGP).

A documentary produced by second year Communication students from the University of the Cordilleras (UC) in Baguio City was adjudged as the "Best Documentary" and the "Most Child-Friendly Documentary" in the Young Adult Division of the 3rd DokyuBata Video Documentary Contest. The documentary bested 9 other finalists in the said division narrowed down from over 100 entries nationwide.