Geospatial Analysis

The Geospatial Analysis group is co-headed by Prof Thanh Phan and A/Prof Richard Beare. The group has interest in all aspects of geospatial analysis including optimisation and spatiotemporal regression. The Gallery below includes application in health network design incorporating travel time, population and disease incidence data and spatial analysis of disease hot spots.  For collaboration and student research projects, please contact either Prof Thanh Phan (thanh.phan at monash.edu) Or A/Prof Richard Beare (Richard.beare at monash.edu)

Find out more about the group

• Researchers
• Research topic
• Gallery
• Research grants
• Projects
• Publications

Meet the team

Research topic

• Geospatial and Transport Modeling in Stroke Service Planning (e-book published December 2019)

Gallery

App to search hospital for acute stroke therapy	App to optimise deployment of mobile stroke unit (CT ambulance)	Prototype app to design acute stroke service delivery in Sydney
App for clot retrieval therapy in Melbourne	App for searching TIA hot spot in Victoria	App for Live positions of public transport vehicles
App for clot retrieval therapy in Adelaide	App for ground versus air transport of stroke patients for clot retrieval in Victoria	Googling Geography of Multiple Sclerosis & Neurological Disorders-Global Disease Burden 2016
Googling Location of Mobile Stroke Unit in Sydney	Software tools for geospatial analysis

Research Grants

Randomized controlled trial of thrombectomy versus standard medical therapy for stroke with medium sized vessel occlusion: Frontier-AP
National Health and Medical Research Council (Canberra, AU) ID 2032420

Frontier AP is a randomised trial of thrombectomy versus best medical therapy for patients with medium sized vessel occlusion in the brain. The Geospatial analysis group will perform analysis to determine the optimal approach to provide this type of therapy to rural and metropolitan areas. Find out more

Monash Infrastructure Seed Fund 2018: Exploring the impact of traffic congestion on responses to emergency codes by Ambulance Victoria.
Collaboration with Civil Engineering: Graham Curry, Hai Le Vu; Monash Ambulance Victoria: Karen Smith, Michael Stephenson, Andrew Clough.

Ambulance Victoria (AV) has a crucial role in responding to emergency calls in a timely manner, treating patients and transporting patients to the appropriate hospital. A less appreciated factor is the impact of traffic congestion on AV’s response to emergency codes (1-3) and subsequent impact on patient outcomes. The population in Melbourne is projected to grow from 4.7 million (2016) to 6.4 million in 2036, traffic congestion is likely to increase, impacting on ability of AV to meet its key performance indicators. This project explores the impact of traffic congestion on AV’s response to emergency codes (1-3). The project directly relates to transport and planning.  Watch YouTube video (3:13min)

Agency for Clinical Innovation grant: Googling hubs for endovascular clot retrieval in New South Wales geospatial modeling, optimization and health economic analysis
Collaboration with Agency for Clinical Innovation: Kim Sutherland, Kate Jackson, Jennifer Pedler,  Mathieu Lanthier-Veilleux, Kylie Tastula, Richard Lindley and Clare Quinn

At present, a centralised model for providing clot retrieval exists in Victoria but not in New South Wales.  The grant will be used to develop a geospatial model for delivering clot retrieval service in New South Wales as well as telestroke service.

Projects

Effect of Climate change on prevalence of multiple sclerosis
Collaboration with Dr Nevin John

Web-based app to estimate cost of visiting hospital outpatient
Collaboration with Information Technology: Rodion Sharlov, David Taniar

The aim of this project is to create a web-based app to estimate the cost of visiting hospital outpatient given a constraint on time and budget. The app will estimate cost for visiting by car, uber, taxi and public transport.

Publications

• A Dataset of Healthcare Road Accessibility in Australia: Service-Based Grouping and Residential ReachabilityAuthor links open overlay panel. Kiki Adhinugraha, Thanh Phan, Richard Beare, Albert Phan, Shiyang Lyu, David Taniar, Data in Brief, Available online 12 September 2025, 112068, doi.org/10.1016/j.dib.2025.112068
• Hotspots and trends in multiple sclerosis prevalence in Australia utilising disease-modifying therapy prescription data. John N, Kawai A, Phan A, Beare R, Palmer AJ, Srikanth V, Ma H, Phan TG. Mult Scler Relat Disord. 2025 Oct;102:106612. doi: 10.1016/j.msard.2025.106612. Epub 2025 Jul 11. PMID: 40674990
• Identifying hotspots of seizure-related hospital admissions in Australia. Muthusamy S, Phan ALG, Seneviratne U, Beare R, Srikanth V, Ma H, Phan TG. Seizure. 2025 Jul;129:70-76. doi: 10.1016/j.seizure.2025.03.017. Epub 2025 Mar 27 PMID: 40239330
• Phan, T.G., Bushnell, C.D., Ma, H. Geography and Time CONCEPTION in Pregnancy-Associated Stroke. Neurology, 2022, 99(15), pp. 639–640
• Cole, J., Beare, R., Phan, T., ...Murdoch, K., Layland, J. Modelling STEMI service delivery: a proof of concept study. Emergency medicine journal : EMJ, 2022, 39(9), pp. 701–707
• Kawai, A., Hui, S., Beare, R., ...Ma, H., Phan, T.G. Spatiotemporal analysis of regional TIA trends Frontiers in Neurology, 2022, 13, 983512
• Adhinugraha, K., Taniar, D., Phan, T., Beare, R.Predicting travel time within catchment area using Time Travel Voronoi Diagram (TTVD) and crowdsource map features. Information Processing and Management, 2022, 59(3), 102922
• Owolabi, M.O., Thrift, A.G., Martins, S., ...Phan TG, Beare R, Yonemoto, N., Yperzeele, L.The state of stroke services across the globe: Report of World Stroke Organization–World Health Organization surveys. International Journal of Stroke, 2021, 16(8), pp. 889–901
• Anne Behrndtz , Richard Beare,  Svitlana Iievlieva , Grethe Andersen , Jeppe Mainz , Martin Gude , Henry Ma , Velandai Srikanth , Claus Z Simonsen , Thanh Phan.  Helicopters Solve the Transport Dilemma for Patients With Symptoms of Large-Vessel Occlusion Stroke in Intermediate Density Areas? A Simulation Model Based on Real Life DataFront Neurol. 2022 Apr 25;13:861259. doi: 10.3389/fneur.2022.861259. eCollection 2022.
• Sharlov R, Taniar D, Phan T, Beare R, Srikanth V, Ma H, Farrell T, White C, Wallace EM, Davies-Tuck M. Where do low risk women live relative to maternity services across Victoria? Expanding access to public homebirth models across Victoria. Women Birth. 2021 Jan 12:S1871-5192(21)00004-4. doi: 10.1016/j.wombi.2021.01.004. PMID: 33451928
• McTaggart R, ..Phan TG, Beare RB et al.Leaving No LVO Stroke Behind: reorganizing stroke systems of care to improve timely access to endovascular therapy. Stroke. 2020 Jul;51(7):1951-1960. doi: 10.1161/STROKEAHA.119.026735. Epub 2020 Jun 17.PMID: 32568640
• Phan TG, Beare R, Kamal N. Editorial: Geospatial and Transport Modeling in Stroke Service Planning. Front Neurol. 2019 Oct 1;10:1057. doi: 10.3389/fneur.2019.01057. eCollection 2019. PMID: 31681144
• Phan TG, Ma H, Lim R, Sobey CG, Wallace EM. Phase 1 Trial of Amnion Cell Therapy for Ischemic Stroke. Front Neurol. 2018 Jun 7;9:198. doi: 10.3389/fneur.2018.00198. eCollection 2018. PMID: 299305
• Phan TG, Beare R, Srikanth V, Ma H. Googling Location for Operating Base of Mobile Stroke Unit in Metropolitan Sydney. Front Neurol. 2019 Aug 6;10:810. doi: 10.3389/fneur.2019.00810. eCollection 2019. PMID: 31447755
• Padgham M, Boeing G, Cooley D, Tierney N, Sumner M, Phan TG, Beare R. An Introduction to Software Tools, Data, and Services for Geospatial Analysis of Stroke Services. Front Neurol. 2019 Aug 7;10:743. doi: 10.3389/fneur.2019.00743. eCollection 2019. PMID: 31440197
• Phan TG, Beare R, Srikanth V, Ma H. Googling Service Boundaries for Endovascular Clot Retrieval (ECR) Hub Hospitals in Metropolitan Sydney. Front Neurol. 2019 Jul 2;10:708. doi: 10.3389/fneur.2019.00708. eCollection 2019. PMID: 31333564
• Tajaddini A, Phan TG, Beare R, Ma H, Srikanth V, Currie G, Vu HL. Application of Strategic Transport Model and Google Maps to Develop Better Clot Retrieval Stroke Service. Front Neurol. 2019 Jun 28;10:692. doi: 10.3389/fneur.2019.00692. eCollection 2019. PMID: 31316457
• Phan TG, Beare R, Parsons M, Zhao H, Davis S, Donnan GA, Srikanth V, Ma H. Googling Boundaries for Operating Mobile Stroke Unit for Stroke Codes. Front Neurol. 2019 Apr 4;10:331. doi: 10.3389/fneur.2019.00331. eCollection 2019.PMID: 31019489
• Cole J, Beare R, Phan TG, Srikanth V, MacIsaac A, Tan C, Tong D, Yee S, Ho J, Layland J. Staff Recall Travel Time for ST Elevation Myocardial Infarction Impacted by Traffic Congestion and Distance: A Digitally Integrated Map Software Study. Front Cardiovasc Med. 2018 Jan 8;4:89. doi: 10.3389/fcvm.2017.00089. eCollection 2017. PMID: 29359134
• Phan TG, Beare R, Chen J, Clissold B, Ly J, Singhal S, Ma H, Srikanth V. Googling Service Boundaries for Endovascular Clot Retrieval Hub Hospitals in a Metropolitan Setting: Proof-of-Concept Study. Stroke. 2017 Mar 29. pii: STROKEAHA.116.015323. doi: 10.1161/STROKEAHA.116.015323. PMID: 28356438