Table 1.

Contextual factors for evaluation of methods for space–time disease surveillance.

Factor	Description
Scale	The spatial and temporal extent of the system (e.g., local/regional/national/international)
Scope	The intended target of the system (e.g., single disease/multiple disease, single host/multiple host, known pathogens/unknown pathogens)
Function	The objective(s) of the systems (outbreak detection, outbreak characterization, outbreak control, case detection, situational awareness (Mandl et al., 2004, Buehler et al., 2004), bio-security and preparedness (Fearnley, 2008))
Disease characteristics	Is the pathogen infectious? Is this a chronic disease? How does it spread? What is known about the epidemiology of the pathogen?
Technical	The level of technological sophistication in the design of the system and its users (data type and quality, algorithm performance, computing infrastructure and/or reliability, user expertise)