Beyond the human crisis, data is critical in understanding the unfolding Coronavirus pandemic. Everyone’s eyes are riveted to this data - how many cases? where? how fast is it growing? Phrases uttered in mathematics and statistics departments have become everyday parlance - “exponential growth”, “flattening the curve”, “growth factor”.
Data resources like the John Hopkins Coronavirus tracker have become the gold standard in helping authorities around the globe track the unfolding of the virus around the world and make informed policy decisions.
While specialized COVID-19 data applications have been developed around the world, many organizations and local authorities would vastly benefit from something similar for their specific audiences. However, they do not have the time and resources to develop these applications.
Broadly, the following capabilities are needed:
- Web forms to allow people in the field to report relevant information - case information, aggregate statistics, location etc.
- Data capture and analysis tools that let authorities run reports and gain insights from the data
- Visual data displays like maps, bar graphs, line graphs and provide quick visual insight
Fortunately, there are many great tools that authorities can leverage to quickly create Covid-19 database applications for local audiences:
1. Workmap.ai
Workmap.ai is a workflow and database application that lets people without database expertise capture information and run analyses through a simple spreadsheet structure.
- Drag and drop to create highly tailored web forms
- Capture data in a spreadsheet structure with sorting, searching and filters
- Create relationships between information in different tables
- Run reports on information to gain insights
- Public reports
- Create “if this-then that” automations
- Assign information to people
2. Airtable
Airtable is a popular database application that lets users manage information is a simple tabular structure
- Simple web forms
- Capture data in spreadsheets that you can sort and filter
- Create relationships between information tables
- Visual reports - graphs, charts etc.
3. Zoho Creator
Zoho Creator is a powerful online database management app
- Drag and drop web form builder
- Capture data in tables that you can sort and filter
- Create relationships between information tables
- Run reports and queries
- Public reports
- Visual reports - graphs, charts etc.
4. Coda.io
Coda.io is a collaborative solution that lets you capture and organize data and display it in rich formats.
- Capture data in tables that you can sort and filter
- Create basic relationships between information tables
- Display data visually - graphs, charts etc.
- Create custom dashboards