Needle Mapping

About the Program

Category: Information Technology (Best in Category)

Year: 2020

Much like other metropolitan areas, over the past few years Bernalillo County, New Mexico has seen increases in opioid-related incidents due to the opioid epdemic and an increase in the homeless population. These issues have caused the community to get involved to address these issues, and take a holistic approach to resolving these issues. The Bernalillo County Department of Behavioral Health Services created the master plan to design a system that would track the migration density of needles in the county. The Department of Planning & Development used the Aeronautical Reconnaissance Coverage Geographic Information System (Arc GIS) to design and implement a tracking tool that would show the migration and density on a live map. Multiple agencies were invited to provide the data they collected and were encouraged to upload their outreach efforts to the map. The data began to aggregate within various locations showing how there was a migration in density, defining ''hot spots''. Various events caused these migrations, for example when a vacant lot turned into a new construction project, the needle density moved one block north to this lot.Data gathered by the county has also been shared with other public agencies, including the county, state, and cities to aid in the response to the opioid epidemic. This data will also be used to inform future allocations of resources, funding, public health measures, and programming.