PHLR has launched its newest tool for providing access to public health law research: LawAtlas.org.

LawAtlas.org is an online portal that allows visitors to explore variation in laws across U.S. states and over time. This site currently provides access to data that maps laws relating to specific current public health issues like distracted driving, syringe exchange, overdose prevention and sports concussions, with many more to come in the near future.

The website features four main sections: the LawAtlas Workbench, Interactive Law Maps, Policy Surveillance Reports and Data.

The Interactive Law Maps section is one way the site makes the legal data publicly available. Users can query the data and see it displayed on an interactive U.S. map. They can view and print the corresponding legal texts as well as a summary of their query. In the Policy Surveillance Reports section, users can download detailed Policy Surveillance Reports that provide summary-level updates on the legal data presented on the rest of the site.  All the datasets, with protocols and codebooks, can be downloaded on demand by researchers on the Data page. Using the LawAtlas Workbench, researchers can systematically produce and maintain legal datasets that can then be published to the website and displayed on the other three sections.

Visit LawAtlas.org to begin accessing high-quality public health law datasets, or to contact PHLR about how you can get started on the Workbench to create your own legal dataset.