New BMJ Health Intelligence service brings statistics alive with GeoWise InstantAtlas

InstantAtlas online graphical presentation of geographic statistics helps the BMJ provide a resource enabling public health professionals to quickly view and comprehend trends in public health data.

EDINBURGH UK – 21st May 2007 - GeoWise, a provider of software for the clear graphical presentation of location-based statistical data, has today announced that the new BMJ Health Intelligence resource, launched online on 14th May is using the InstantAtlas interactive geographic data presentation package.

Using InstantAtlas, the BMJ resource makes a broad and complex array of public health statistics, compiled in collaboration with the National Centre for Health Outcome Developmentⁱ, very much more accessible to public health professionals such as primary care trust (PCT) directors, general practitioners (GPs), local authority staff, public health educators and students.

"One of the real problems that public health professionals face at the moment is the time it takes to find the information they need on public health topics and commissioning," said Alison Walker, editor of BMJ Health Intelligence. "What they really want is to spend less time looking for information and more time using it to help improve the health of their communities. Within BMJ Health Intelligence, InstantAtlas helps by cutting down the time it takes to understand important public health trends."

BMJ Health Intelligence is aimed at supporting decision-making around public health policies, programmes and commissioning. It takes public health data from across a multitude of sources, presenting information through a single, powerful, evidence-based web site. The incorporation of InstantAtlas to present eye-catching visuals makes patterns easy to see. Maps and statistics are combined in highly-interactive area profiles, atlases, dashboards, and performance reports.

"InstantAtlas makes complex data much more accessible and easier to interpret," said David Tovey, editorial director of BMJ Knowledge, developers of BMJ Health Intelligence. "By incorporating InstantAtlas into BMJ Health Intelligence, we are enabling quick and easy exploration and analysis of health trends at a local level, which users can then compare with other areas and national averages and act on in confidence."

Mike Forster, managing director of GeoWise commented: "Use of InstantAtlas for the BMJ Health Intelligence resource is another great example of how the healthcare community is better harnessing public health intelligence to support good decision making."

BMJ Health Intelligence offers coverage of important public health topics such as obesity, alcohol misuse, smoking cessation, older people and teenage pregnancy. It enables regional comparisons, examples of local projects as well as policies and targets. Commissioning topics include mental health, cancer, diabetes and learning difficulties.

Note:
i. The National Centre for Health Outcome Development (NCHOD) publishes extensive statistical and bibliographic information about health outcomes, and has selected data from existing data sources for BMJ Health Intelligence, including the Compendium of Clinical and Health Indicators.

About BMJ Knowledge / BMJ Group

BMJ Knowledge – part of the BMJ Group – provides innovative, evidence based resources for health care professionals and patients. BMJ Group is the publishing division of the British Medical Association and one of the world’s leaders in medical publishing

About GeoWise & InstantAtlas

GeoWise develops and sells InstantAtlas a powerful software tool for the graphical presentation of location-based statistical data which makes local and regional patterns easy to see and explore. It allows templates to be used to present spatial and temporal indicators and statistics as eye-catching, interactive area profiles, atlases, dashboards, and performance reports. The GeoWise team has a unique blend of skills in design, software, geography and statistics.