DEVELOPMENT OF A WEB-BASED GIS SIMULATOR FOR REAL-TIME MODELING OF AFRICAN SWINE FEVER SPREAD

Abstract

African swine fever poses a tough challenge to the swine industry, particularly in regions such as the Philippines, where its impact has been devastating. This paper introduces the development of a web-based GIS simulator tailored to model real-time African swine fever spread dynamics. Through iterative processes within the system development life cycle, the system was meticulously designed to address the specific needs of small-scale backyard farmers and government agencies. A thorough requirement analysis and stakeholder engagement defined the system’s core functionalities, including realtime disease monitoring, interactive mapping, and customized best practices dissemination. Implementation involved integrating these features into a user-friendly platform, ensuring usability and effectiveness. Rigorous testing confirmed the reliability and functionality of the system, with high system usability scale scores reflecting positive user perception. Deployment in a pilot municipality showcased the system’s potential to empower stakeholders with timely information and proactive measures against African swine fever outbreaks. The newly developed system for simulating African swine fever spread dynamics and mapping confirmed cases has received positive feedback and a high system usability scale score. It is recommended to further explore and integrate the newly developed system for simulating African swine fever spread dynamics and mapping confirmed cases. To build on this success, stakeholders are encouraged to consider gradually expanding the use of the system, gathering ongoing feedback for improvement, offering  user support and training, nurturing partnerships with research institutions and system usability scale control agencies, and raising awareness of the system’s benefits.