Heat and Health Dashboard

The Heat and Health Dashboard is an interactive tool with heat maps and maps related to factors that impact heat exposure, sensitivity, and access to resources in Clark County. The heat maps use data collected during the Clark County Heat Watch campaign. The one-day event provides a snapshot in time of how urban heat varies across neighborhoods in the county.

Local partners, organizations, decision makers, and county staff can use the Heat and Health Dashboard to better understand specific geographic locations and populations in Clark County that may be the most impacted by heat. 

The Heat and Health Dashboard is meant to be used for: 

  • Identifying local opportunities for heat interventions strategies (like tree planting, community cooling or resilience resources, or shade infrastructure)
  • Support making plans or preparing for heat events
  • Educational or program purposes

Using the dashboard

The Heat and Health Dashboard is meant to compare temperature maps side-by-side with other maps of public health interest. The zoom function on the two maps is synced so you can focus on specific areas of the county. There are over 25 maps to choose from in the dashboard. 

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Hello and welcome to the Heat and Health Dashboard. This tool was created by Clark County Public Health staff to better understand geographic locations and populations in Clark County that may be the most impacted by heat. The heat and health dashboard is an interactive tool factors that impact heat exposure, sensitivity to heat, and access to resources in Clark County.  
 
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Local partners, organizations, and decision makers can use this tool in several ways, including to identify local opportunities for heat intervention strategies, like where to prioritize tree planting, community cooling resources, or  shade infrastructure, to support making plans or preparing for heat events, for grant writing or funding applications, or for educational or program purposes. The Heat and Health Dashboard can support questions like, Where are warmer and cooler areas in Clark County? What resources  like libraries or parks are in heat islands that could support heat planning? What factors in our  communities could be related to how we experience heat? For example, tree canopy coverage or amount of paved services. How do heat maps compare to other population factors in Clark County? For example, what areas in Clark County are warmer and have a higher percentage of adults living alone? And many more. 

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The dashboard is meant to compare temperature maps side by side with other maps of public health interest. When you open the tool, you will see text pop up with instructions and more information. Click the box and then you will see the dashboard homepage. The layout of the tool includes heat maps on the left and other maps to compare on the right. The zoom function on the  two maps is synced so you can focus on specific areas of the county. Zoom on the maps by using the  plus and minus symbols on the top left sides of each map or by using your touch screen, trackpad, or mouse. You can search an address or location using the search bar with the magnifying glass on  the top right sides of each map. 

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There are three types of maps in this tool: heat maps, which are located on the left side, overlays, which are located in the middle under the three squares button, and other maps of public health interest on the right side. Click the tabs or drop-down categories at the top to select the maps you would like on either side. On the left side are maps  of urban heat generated from the Clark County Heat Watch project. Maps are available for three time points: morning, afternoon, and evening. The display includes traverse temperatures or solid lines on the map displaying data collected from the driven routes and temperatures modeled by project consultant CAPA Strategies using traverse data and local landscape features. Click on the layers icon in the middle of this tool to add features like public schools, libraries or parks to the Heat Watch maps. Make a layer visible by clicking the eye icon. On the right side are maps about factors that impact heat exposure,  sensitivity, or access to resources grouped into  four categories. The categories are index maps,  chronic disease, neighborhood and community  characteristics, and population characteristics.  

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Let's try out an example. Let's say I'm interested in comparing the afternoon heat map with the amount of paved surfaces in  Clark County. On the right, I would hover over neighborhood and community characteristics to select the paved surfaces map. And on the left, I select the afternoon heat map to see the afternoon temperature. From here, I can zoom in on specific areas in the county on either side and select features to add on top of the heat maps, like bus stops. 

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There are a few considerations to keep in mind when using the tool. The dashboard does not include all measures or indicators that are  important to heat risk. The dashboard is not meant to represent individual or household exposure or  risk. It is not a predictive tool. The dashboard should not be used in real time for emergency management or response. The tool is meant to be used as context or a starting point for better understanding heat related exposure, sensitivity, and resources in Clark County. Maps and data are just one piece of the story and do not replace community knowledge or experiences. You can see the heat and health dashboard technical notes on our website for more information. 

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For questions, requests, or to schedule a tutorial on how to use the Heat and Health Dashboard, please  contact us at ccphclimateaction@clark.wa.gov. Thank you for watching. We look forward to hearing how you use the Heat and Health Dashboard in your work.

Heat and Health Dashboard

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The Heat and Health Dashboard tool is meant to be used as context or a starting point for better understanding heat-related exposure, sensitivity, and resources in Clark County. Maps and data are just one piece of the story and do not replace community knowledge or experiences, nor should they be used in place of community engagement. 

Data presented in this tool may change over time or as new information becomes available. The Heat and Health Dashboard is not meant to represent individual or household exposure or risk. This is not a predictive tool. It is also not meant to be used in real-time for emergency management or response.

Choose from maps of urban heat (Heat Watch) on the left, and maps about factors that impact heat exposure, sensitivity, or access to resources on the right. There are four categories of maps to choose from on the right side of the tool: 

  • Index maps: maps that use a combination of data indicators
  • Chronic disease: maps about chronic diseases that can impact sensitivity to heat
  • Neighborhood and community characteristics: maps about neighborhood or community conditions, like housing conditions, tree canopy, or air quality, that can impact heat exposure or access to resources
  • Population characteristics: maps about population factors like age, that can impact heat sensitivity, or income, that can impact access to resources to cope with heat

You can also add features like public schools, libraries or parks to the Heat Watch maps. 

For more information and methods, see the dashboard technical notes.

Screen image of the Heat and Health Dashboard that shows two maps on either side of the tool, with a teal banner at the top to select different maps. The image has text on top, displaying various functionality of the dashboard including how to: select maps, choose overlay features, see tool instructions, zoom in and out of the maps, search an address, and click a census tract for more information.

 

For questions, feedback, or to request a tutorial on how to use the Heat and Health Dashboard, please contact the Climate Action program.