Oak Ridge Bio-surveillance Toolkit (ORBiT): Integrating Big-Data Analytics with Visual Analysis for Public Health Dynamics

In this position paper, we describe the design and implementation of the Oak Ridge Bio-surveillance Toolkit (ORBiT): a collection of novel statistical and machine learning tools implemented for (1) integrating heterogeneous traditional (e.g. emergency room visits, prescription sales data, etc.) and non-traditional (social media such as Twitter and Instagram) data sources, (2) analyzing large-scale datasets and (3) presenting the results from the analytics as a visual interface for the end-user to interact and provide feedback. We present examples of how ORBiT can be used to summarize ex- tremely large-scale datasets effectively and how user interactions can translate into the data analytics process for bio-surveillance. We also present a strategy to estimate parameters relevant to dis- ease spread models from near real time data feeds and show how these estimates can be integrated with disease spread models for large-scale populations. We conclude with a perspective on how integrating data and visual analytics could lead to better forecasting and prediction of disease spread as well as improved awareness of disease susceptible regions.