What is "benmap"

The Environmental Benefits Mapping and Analysis Program (BenMAP) is an open source, Windows-based computer program created by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency that estimates the health benefits from improvements in air quality. State, local and international users have used BenMAP to estimate the health benefits of improved air quality. BenMAP includes information users need to start performing a benefits analysis; advanced users can customize the program to meet their needs. Because BenMAP is based on a GIS, the results can be mapped for ease of presentation.

BenMAP can be used for:

• Generation of population/community level ambient pollution exposure maps;
• Comparison of benefits across multiple regulatory programs;
• Estimation of health impacts associated with exposure to existing air pollution concentrations;
• Estimation of health benefits of alternative ambient air quality standards;
• Performance of sensitivity analyses of health or valuation functions, or of other inputs; and
• Hypothetical, or “what-if,” type analyses.

A United Nations case study concluded that it had "proven to be a remarkable tool in helping decision-makers understand the health and economic implications of possible air pollution control policies."

In December 2013 the proprietary BenMAP 4 was rewritten as an open-source program and issued as BenMAP-Community Edition.