FieldSeeker GIS and Sentinel GIS — Focusing on Vector Control
FieldSeeker® GIS and Sentinel® GIS are primarily focused on Mosquito Control best practices and workflows – specifically, on supporting Integrated Mosquito Management activities including surveillance, larviciding, source reduction, site inspection, and various forms of treatment.
However, not all operations are focused on mosquito control only. Many are organized as mosquito & vector control districts. Depending on the region, this might mean dealing with wild birds, tics, horses, rodents, ants, wasps, and others organisms that transmit disease, and in some cases that are considered an invasive nuisance.
FieldSeeker GIS and Sentinel GIS both provide extensive tools for working with other vectors besides mosquitoes. We’ll show you some examples. That said, there may be specific data that needs to be collected for certain vectors that is not currently provided. If that’s the case, we’d love to hear from you so that we can talk about enhancing the products to support your workflow!
Sentinel GIS
Sentinel GIS provides tools for Dead Bird collection and processing, Sentinel chicken flock monitoring, and configurable tools for service requests, inspections, and treatments.
- Service Request type or category is a configurable pick list. User records field notes regarding actions taken. This is also a configurable pick list, so that specific field actions can be recorded consistently.
- User records Dead Bird locations in the office or in the field. Details include species, sex, sample condition, etc., meaning this could be used for samples other than dead birds. Lab results are entered using the Surveillance Tools on the desktop.
- User records inspections for other vectors but does not enter dip count information. Activity category is used to specify the type of inspection.
- User records treatments for other vectors (rodents, etc.) using standard Treatment form. Product, Activity, and Equipment Type are configurable.
The above tools fit many workflows, but inspection information may not be specific enough for the vector in question. If this is the case with your operation, we want to know!
FieldSeeker GIS
FieldSeeker GIS provides tools for Sample collection and processing and configurable tools for service requests, inspections, treatments, and miscellaneous activities. It also provides user-defined fields for locations and miscellaneous activities.
- Service Request type or category is a configurable list. User records field activities (Site Visit, Landing Count, Trap Data, Sample, or miscellaneous Activities & Time), field notes, and takes pictures for services requests.
- User records Samples in the field or in the office for any location. Details include Sample Type, Species, condition and sex. This covers any vector
- User records inspections and treatments for other vectors (rodents, etc.) using standard Treatment form. Site Conditions, Product, Method, Equipment Type, ContainerType, and Action taken are configurable. User can take pictures.
- User records “Activities & Time” miscellaneous activity records for other vectors. This can include up to 5 user-defined fields.
- User-defined fields are also configurable for point, line, and polygon locations.
FieldSeeker provides flexibility in how information is collected for sites, and in the activities that are recorded for those sites.
Other Options
Many vector control workflows are similar enough (inspection, surveillance, treatment, lab results, etc.) that the standard tools in Sentinel GIS or FieldSeeker GIS cover it. However, some data collection is more specific than what can be accounted for in configuration and may require its own data collection form. This could either be incorporated into FieldSeeker or built as a separate collection project using Collector for ArcGIS, Survey123, or some other tool.
In some cases, work assignment, service request routing, follow-up schedule, and so forth are also dependent on the vector (different crews for different vectors). In this case, additional development may be necessary to extend the standard tools in the desired manner.
Questions and Suggestions
If you see something you like, please let us know. If you see something we could improve on or add into our software so that it better meets the needs of managing other vectors, please let us know that too. For more details on the topic and demos, join us for a brief webinar Sentinel® and FieldSeeker® GIS — Not Just for Mosquito Control on Tue, Feb 2, 2016 10:00 AM – 10:30 AM MST. View Recorded Webinar