Ishan Bhatt, Section 2 (10 AM Class)

Mental Health Provider Directory Search1

Case- The Los Angeles County Department of Mental Health has over 500
providers of mental health services to individuals all over the County. While
some providers provide services to all age-groups, some of the providers
restrict their services to certain age-groups. Finding appropriate services that
are conveniently located close to a clients home address was often a
challenge. To overcome this challenge Department of Mental Health made
use of GIS and created an Online Directory.
GIS tool and Data used - The DMH Online provider Directory by making use
of GIS allows the public to search for service closest to their location. The
information provided includes a phone number, type of services provided by
that provider, age-group served by that provider and the service area
boundary in which the provider is located. This proximity application
makes use of both Geographical data and the consumer Data (phone
number, etc.) and makes it available to the user.
Benefit and Cost - This will reduce the number of calls to the County for
information and improve outreach to the public. This will reduce the cost of
Staff the DMH department would have to incur if this tool was not available
and it also reduced the time.
GIS Innovation- This online directory can be used in future to show the
nearest route to Psychiatric facilities in cases of emergency.

Telecom New Zealand2

Case- In New Zealand, competition on providing broadband internet access
to consumers and businesses is intense. The major telecommunications
companies are all looking for ways to increase their market share. Company
has been asking sales people to call in at households across the country to
promote Telecoms broadband offerings, but it did not work.
GIS tool and Data used - Telecom NZ has developed an iPad app based on
Esris solution ArcGIS Online. This propensity + density based GIS
application has greatly helped the sales team. Sales teams now have
mobile access to geo-referenced Telecom customer records overlaid on
digital maps. This has resulted in increased productivity, more sales and a
richer data set for future.

1 http://lacdmh.lacounty.gov/appASPNET/ServiceLocator/

2 http://www.eagle.co.nz/GIS/Case-Studies/
Ishan Bhatt, Section 2 (10 AM Class)

Benefit and cost- Sales teams are more productive, their sales revenues are
up and Telecoms analysts have a much richer dataset with which to plan
new campaigns, sales reps could focus on high-value prospects and cover
more territory
GIS Innovation Sales team can use the GIS software not only for more sales
but predictive analytics for tighter targeting for promotions/ads.