A GIS-based framework for routing decisions to reduce livestock disease exposure risk

Safe and effective transportation of livestock during disease outbreaks is crucial for maintaining agricultural productivity and economic stability. This work offers a novel perspective on the transportation of hazardous biological materials within the veterinary field. In response to the complex challenges of managing livestock disease outbreaks, we evaluated different routing measures for safe land transport of diseased animals or infected materials. The potential disease exposure risk to susceptible livestock populations during hypothetical transportation scenarios of infected livestock and specimens was estimated. A GIS-based framework was developed to integrate and manage raster-based Gridded Livestock of the World (GLW) data and vector-based road network data, which was used to implement a time-based risk (TBR) measure to support routing decisions of diseased animals. This approach not only considers time as a traditional routing metric but also incorporates livestock population distribution as a crucial factor in the disease exposure risk assessment. Along with the TBR measure, the shortest, fastest, and least population exposure measures are also evaluated as routing solution benchmarks. Analysis results based on two origin-destination pairs within Oklahoma, USA demonstrate that the TBR measure yields routes with the least impact on animal populations as compared to the shortest, fastest, and least population route, especially over longer distances. Our results underscore the importance of incorporating dynamic exposure risks in routing decisions to effectively minimize potential disease spread to vulnerable populations distributed along the path of transportation. This study also highlights the potential of GIS in enhancing biosecurity and disease control measures by optimizing transportation routes that consider various risk factors.