Geographic information software programs' accuracy for interfacility air transport distances and time.

Introduction: This study aimed to evaluate consistency/predictability of interfacility flight times (IFFTs) and accuracy of geographical information system (GIS) software packages for estimating IFFT.

Methods: This retrospective study conducted by a program using a Bell 206 assessed the first 1000 IF transports occurring on 137 "runs" (ie, referring-receiving hospital pairings) made at least twice. GIS IFFT estimates using Google Earth™ (GE) and ArcGIS™ (AG) were compared against actual IFFT using linear regression; univariate analysis included assessment of medians with 95% binomial exact confidence intervals (CIs).