SaTScan on a Cloud: On-Demand Large Scale Spatial Analysis of Epidemics

Authors

  • Ronald C Price Center for High Performance Computing, University of Utah
  • Warren Pettey Department of Internal Medicine, University of Utah
  • Tim Freeman Mathematics and Computer Science Division of Argonne National Laboratory
  • Kate Keahey Mathematics and Computer Science Division of Argonne National Laboratory
  • Molly Leecaster Department of Internal Medicine, University of Utah
  • Matthew Samore Department of Internal Medicine, University of Utah
  • James Tobias d National Center for Public Health Informatics, Centers for Disease Control
  • Julio C Facelli Department of Biomedical Informatics and Center for High Performance Computing, University of Utah

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.5210/ojphi.v2i1.2910

Abstract

By using cloud computing it is possible to provision on- demand resources for epidemic analysis using computer intensive applications like SaTScan. Using 15 virtual machines (VM) on the Nimbus cloud we were able to reduce the total execution time for the same ensemble run from 8896 seconds in a single machine to 842 seconds in the cloud. Using the caBIG tools and our iterative software development methodology the time required to complete the implementation of the SaTScan cloud system took approximately 200 man-hours, which represents an effort that can be secured within the resources available at State Health Departments. The approach proposed here is technically advantageous and practically possible.

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Published

2010-04-09

How to Cite

Price, R. C., Pettey, W., Freeman, T., Keahey, K., Leecaster, M., Samore, M., … Facelli, J. C. (2010). SaTScan on a Cloud: On-Demand Large Scale Spatial Analysis of Epidemics. Online Journal of Public Health Informatics, 2(1). https://doi.org/10.5210/ojphi.v2i1.2910

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Section

Original Articles