Picking All The Apples
In the ASPCA Shelter Research & Development department, we have been digging our teeth into location targeting using GIS technology and have been learning some really interesting things.
Our work so far has been focused on decreasing intake from high-intake locations through spay/neuter. By using shelter data and GIS technology, we can identify areas where S/N is likely to have the highest impact – for example, areas with high percentages of unaltered animals entering the shelter…
… paired with areas with high concentrations of litter intake. 
Finding the areas is half of the equation – but the other half is proving to be even more fascinating. Location targets like these are likely most impactful in communities where low-cost S/N is already available to those who want it. The location focus involves not just providing services to those in the location who are asking for and want the services, but a full saturation of S/N – so that we ensure that you actually hit those who were not likely to have used your services.
Dr. Margaret Slater of the Shelter R&D team came up with the great analogy – that we are not looking to go to the orchard to pick all the low-hanging fruit, but instead we want to pick every apple off of one tree. Just as in the orchard, one needs different tools to get the low-hanging fruit than those tools used to grab the pieces higher up the tree, so do we need different outreach tools to get to those who really have no interest, or gumption, in having their dog or cat spayed or neutered.
We found this to be the case in location targets in two communities. In both cases, the areas had access to low-cost S/N for the past few years. When outreach was applied through traditional methods that normally fill their clinics, we found that uptake was very, very low. Why? The low-hanging fruit had already taken advantage of available services – the intake in these locations was coming from those “higher up the tree.”
Getting this type of saturation involves outreach that is different than what many of us have done previously. I featured one great example of this new type of outreach in a blog that focused on Amanda Arrington’s program, The Coalition to Unchain Dogs.
I recently presented some of the data we have been collecting around GIS at the SAWA Conference last month. In coming up with a solution together, workshop attendees did some brain storming around ways to reach those that don’t know about your programs or have any interest in getting their pets spayed or neutered. Check out their awesome list of ideas here.
What are your ideas?
Related links:
“Are We Hitting Our Target?”
“Getting to Know Dr. Margaret Slater”
“Get Over Yourself”
Tags: GIS, Research, Research & Data, Saving Lives, Spay/Neuter
You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.
David Fosdeck Says:
My wife volunteers for the San Juan Animal League (San Juan County, New Mexico). I’ve worked in GIS for over 20 years (ESRI for over 10). I’d like to start a GIS program along the lines of the Petsmart/ASPCA GIS program. Instead of “reinventing the wheel”, I’d like use the projects GIS data dictionary/geodatabase design/spatial analysis models/etc.?
Any information/contacts would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks…
Sincerely,
David Fosdeck
dfosdeck@gmail.com
505-47-6028
Greg Miller Says:
Hi David! It’s great to hear that GIS professionals like yourself are looking to help animals in your community. We definitely hope to be able to provide you with lots of information that will be helpful in starting your own program. Currently, we are still in the early stages of our Petsmart Charities and ASPCA X Maps Spot GIS program. Much of this information will come in the form of How-To Tools and webinars that will cover such topics as “what data do I need to begin utilizing GIS”, “how do I properly clean my intake data”, and “how do I know I am ready to map and analyze my data”.
You can definitely get started on some things now! It is important to make sure you will be analyzing the entire community’s animal intake. You want to make sure that at least 85% of the community’s intake data is being collected. This could be one shelter or many depending on your community. You can also begin looking closely at your shelter data keeping in mind that for the mapping and analysis to be meaningful you will need to have at least 80% mappable data. For many shelters, inaccuracies, misspellings, lack of addresses or cross streets for stray animals, etc. has made it challenging to get to 80% right away.
Please stay tuned to the ASPCA Pro site for the How-To Tools which will provide a lot of specific guidance on the entire process from the data collection and cleaning to the geocoding, mapping and analysis.
Greg Miller, GISP, AICP
GIS Analyst
Shelter Research and Development
ASPCA®
David Fosdeck Says:
Greg,
Can you contact me directly (email or phone)? Having worked in GIS for a lot of years, I understand the implications of “dirty data”. You folks must have some preliminary data dictionary/data models?
My concern is to capture the correct information now rather than going back. A consistent data model framework facilitates aggregating results at many levels (i.e.local/regional/national). I would see this of great benefit to ASPCA and it’s partnership communities. It would also lessen work loads by using consistent data for analysis at your/any level.
Thanks…
David
Elyse Orecchio Says:
Hi David,
Greg will contact you. Thanks for your comment!
-Elyse
Shelters’ Edge