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HIMSS Analytics collects and analyzes healthcare data relating to IT processes and environments,
products, IS department composition, costs and management metrics, healthcare trends and
purchasing decisions. Their website includes a secure online login for clients that have purchased
their main product, a web-based version of the HIMSS Analytics Database (derived from the Dorenfest
IHDS+ Database™).
This online web-based product includes numerous reporting tools to analyze the data within the database,
with the ability to review market opportunies in information technology across the healtchare community.
The tool included the ability to create lists of organizations within a specific market opportunity, but
not the ability to display the organizations graphically in a map to display the geographic make-up for each
result set.
Geographic Software Recommendation: First we researched numerous vendors that provide web-based
geographic software solutions looking for a vendor that provided the best capability for the site's immediate
needs and would support any future development geographic enhancements to the web application. We recommended MapQuest, Inc.
(www.mapquest.com), an industry-leading vendor and one of
the first companies to release web-based geographic software solutions.
Geocoding the Database:
Before we could build applications that plot locations on a map, we had to convert
the addresses in the database into Latitude & Longitude values, the process of geocoding. Using the MapQuest
software, we geocoded over 40,000 different addresses in the United States and Canada.
Integrating the Maps:
Now that the locations in the database each had accurate Latitude & Longitude values,
we were ready to plot the facilities on maps. Since the application already included rubust reporting tools, we added links
within the results screens to so that individual result sets could be plotted and viewed geographically. We also
added individual entity location maps with the ability to expand the map to display other related healthcare facilities
within the immediate area.
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about the client...
http://www.himssanalytics.org
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