This online app includes information from federal agencies such as the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), and the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS), as well as that from non-government organizations, supporting functions such as policy analysis, planning, course-of-action comparison, incident management, and training.

It supports the needs of decision makers at various levels within HHS and other federal agencies to provide enhanced situational awareness at a level of granularity needed for all responders, including regional emergency coordinators and teams in the field. It is also able to display and provide details on medical care sites, resources, and mobilization points, and provide analytical tools for planning and preparedness efforts.

During a large event—such as an improvised explosive device or hurricane—there is the need to immediately determine medical care sites, resources, and mobilization points and modify information as it becomes available and changes. Rapidly changing conditions and the potential need for a large regional or national response requires extensive pre-planning and a highly flexible system, as well as the ability for data from the field to seamlessly get to leadership physically removed from the scene to aid in the planning of the event’s response.

GeoHEALTH displays many different datasets and information feeds, including local data feeds, to help all involved work with a more complete aggregation of data, thus aiding in more coordinated decision making and response. With the dynamic nature of the GeoHEALTH Platform, individual users are able to define and incorporate the data layers they need for a specific event.

Registration is required. Accounts to access GeoHEALTH are created on an individual basis (no group access accounts are generated). Each user account is associated with a group. Layer access is based on the user’s group and ownership/access of the data. Therefore, there will be data layers and functions available to some users and not to others. State and local health departments, as well as emergency management agencies, may apply for accounts.