CareAtlas

Map the gap, mind the gap, close the gap—CareMap Boston turns health data into fair resource placement.

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Inspiration

Our friend José spent the summer at BU researching health access across Boston. He found that although hospitals were nearby, many communitiesespecially Latino and low-income groups, still lacked access to preventive care due to misinformation, resource mismatch, and systemic barriers. That inspired us to build a platform that connects public health data to real-world policy action.

What it does

CareAtlas is an interactive health simulation platform that allows users to model, test, and visualise the impact of policy decisions on community health. Users can select neighbourhoods, add interventions such as clinics or pollution control measures, simulate outcomes for diseases like asthma or heart disease, and see how each decision affects resilience, equity, and cost. It turns static data into a living, decision-making tool for real change.

How we built it

We merged government datasets, including CDC PLACES, Boston.gov, and U.S. Census data, into one standardised pipeline.

Converted messy PDFs and reports into usable Excel and CSV files

Standardized location data by converting ZIP codes to GEOIDs

Built the frontend using React and TypeScript with Material-UI and Zustand

Developed a FastAPI backend using Pandas, GeoPandas, and Scikit-learn for projections and

Challenges we ran into

Cleaning and aligning inconsistent public datasets

Mapping ZIP codes accurately to Census GEOIDs

Maintaining performance while processing large datasets

Designing a transparent, interpretable simulation engine

Accomplishments that we're proud of

Fully functional prototype powered by real Boston data

Automated conversion of complex public reports into usable data

Integrated interactive visualisation layers for health and equity metrics

Built a scalable foundation ready for expansion to other regions

What we learned

We learned that public health data is often fragmented and messy, and that bridging technical and social insights is key to solving real-world problems. Small, data-driven interventions can create lasting impact when modelled and tested properly.

What's next for CareAtlas? We plan to expand beyond Boston, starting with a Massachusetts-wide pilot. Next steps include integrating real-time data streams such as hospital admissions and environmental sensors, adding AI-driven policy recommendations, and partnering with public health departments to turn CareAtlas into a nationwide decision-support tool for equitable healthcare planning.

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