Abstract
The 2022-2023 U.S. HPAI outbreak has affected an unprecedented 836 commercial poultry premises across 47 states. Mapping is being used extensively to aid in control and containment, as well as situational awareness and reporting to international trading partners. Due to the extent of the outbreak, the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) has developed and employed numerous automated mapping methods for the first time in a U.S. animal health emergency to meet reporting and response needs. Daily Situation Report maps are delivered to all affected states using a secure GIS portal. An online operational dashboard reports current metrics (number and types of cases, affected counties, epidemiological curve, etc.) and maps to help inform policy and decision making. Confirmed HPAI detections in wild birds are displayed in a publicly available online mapping and reporting tool. Automation using Python scripting is critical to efficiently process data collected by field personnel and is used in each of these applications. These developments have enabled a small team of mapping professionals at the USDA Center for Epidemiology and Animal Health (CEAH) to provide critical map products, geospatial data, and more to a wide variety of audiences including internal responders, leadership, trading partners, researchers, and the public.