Geographical Analysis (Map) Dashboard

Introduction

This guide explains how to read and use the Geographical Analysis map. The map plots your surveillance data — cases, contacts, samples, adverse events following immunization (AEFI), and events — onto an interactive map.

This guide covers the standard Geographical Analysis dashboard. The exact layers and filters available to you depend on your SORMAS configuration and your user permissions.

1. Opening the map

From the main dashboard, use the tabs in the top-right corner to switch between dashboards:

Open

Select Geographical Analysis. The map opens centered on your country or region, showing cases for the current epidemiological week by default.

Open

What you can see and do is governed by your user permissions. If a layer described below does not appear for you, your account may not have access to that data type.

2. The map at a glance

Control	Where it is	What it does

Control	Where it is	What it does
Open	Top-left	Zoom the map in and out. You can also scroll or pinch.
Drag	Anywhere on the map	Pan to move around.
Open	Top-right (expand icon)	Expand the map to fill the screen; click again to exit.
Open	Top-left, next to the zoom	Open the filter bar to choose time period, area, and disease.
Open	Bottom-right	Show or hide the legend explaining every marker and colour.
Open	Bottom-right	Choose which data types appear on the map.

A typical workflow is: Set your filters → Choose your layers → Read the map using the Map Key → Click a marker for detail.

3. Filtering the data (the FILTER bar)

Click FILTER to open the filter bar across the top of the map.

Open

The filters decide which records the map draws. After changing any filter, click APPLY FILTERS to update the map. Click RESET FILTERS to return to the defaults.

Time period

The first selector sets the time period for the data shown — for example "This epi week: Wk 42-2025 (10/13 - 10/19/2025)" Open the dropdown to choose other periods (a specific epi week, a date range, etc.).

A second selector labelled compared to lets you choose a reference period, such as "The epi week before." This is the period the dashboard uses as a point of comparison.

Region

• Region — limit the map to a single region.

Leaving this empty shows all areas you are permitted to see.

Disease

• Choose a single Disease to show only that disease's data.

• Leaving it empty shows all diseases.

Tip: Filters and layers work together. The filters decide which records are eligible; the layers (next section) decide which types of those records are drawn. If the map looks empty, check both.

4. Choosing what to display (the LAYERS panel)

Click LAYERS (bottom-right) to open the layer panel.

Open

Tick a box to add that data type to the map; untick it to remove it. The map redraws each time you change a selection. Layers are grouped as follows.

Cases

• Show cases — turn case markers on or off (on by default). The small icon gives a short note about how cases are mapped.

• How cases are placed on the map — choose the location used for each case:

  • … by home address — every case is shown at the patient's home location.

  • … by facility or home address — the case is shown at its health facility if one is recorded, otherwise at the home address (default).

  • … by facility — cases are grouped at their health facility. The facility appears as a single house-shaped marker; click it to see the list of cases there.

• Which cases to include:

  • Show all cases — all cases regardless of classification (default).

  • Show confirmed cases only — restrict to confirmed cases.

• Case sex — optionally limit cases to a single sex.

Contacts

• Show contacts — turn contact markers on or off.

• Show confirmed contacts / Show unconfirmed contacts — once contacts are shown, choose which confirmation states to include. Both are on by default.

Samples

Show the locations of samples by type. Tick any combination:

• Show Case Samples

• Show Contact Samples

• Show Event Participant Samples

• Show Environment Samples

Adverse Event (AEFI)

Show adverse events following immunization:

• Show Serious AEFI

• Show Non-Serious AEFI

Other

• Show events — plot signals and events on the map.

• Show regions — shade districts by disease burden (a choropleth map). When enabled, choose what the shading represents:

  • Case count — number of cases per district.

  • Case incidence proportion — cases relative to population.

  The icon explains the measure. (This option is available to users with country-wide access.).

• Hide other countries — mask neighbouring countries so only your country's territory is highlighted, reducing visual clutter.

• Show epidemiological situation — show the current epidemiological picture for cases, independent of the date-type setting in the filters. Use this when you want the current status of cases rather than cases tied to a specific reporting date.

Note: Show regions and Hide other countries both rely on geographic boundary data that must be configured on the server for your instance. If either option appears to do nothing, your instance most likely does not have those boundaries loaded — contact your SORMAS administrator. (Case, contact, sample, event, and AEFI markers do not depend on this and will still appear.)

5. Reading the markers (the MAP KEY)

Click MAP KEY (bottom-right) to open the legend.

Open

It explains every symbol on the map. The sections below mirror what you will see.

Facilities (house-shaped markers)

Used when cases are displayed by facility. The colour reflects the most severe case classification at that facility:

Cases (round markers)

When cases are shown individually, the dot colour is the case classification:

Contacts

Sample

Test-tube icons in different colours distinguish:

• Case Samples

• Contact Samples

• Event Participant Samples

• Environment Samples

Adverse Event

Capsule icons distinguish:

• Serious AEFI

• Non-Serious AEFI

Events

6. Working with the map

Clicking a marker

Markers are interactive:

• A facility (house) marker opens a small window listing all the cases recorded at that facility. From there you can open an individual case.

• An individual case marker opens that case's details.

• A contact marker opens that contact's details.

• An event marker opens that event's details.

This lets you move from a geographic pattern straight to the underlying record without leaving the map.

Combining layers

You can display several data types at once — for example confirmed cases, their related samples, and nearby events — to investigate how they cluster geographically. Turn layers off again when the map becomes crowded.

Refreshing

The map reflects the most recent data each time you apply filters or change a layer. If you have left the dashboard open for a while, re-apply your filters to pull in the latest records.