There is no doubt that we have covered a number of applications related to the world of GIS Technologies. Have you ever considered that it could also serve the law enforcement industry? Probably not. Law enforcement is one of those areas that doesn’t receive much attention when talking about maps or geospatial data sets.
Believe it or not, there is a strong need for GIS-based systems for law enforcement officials. In fact, just recently, it was announced that a leading vendor, known as Esri, has launched a new product specifically designed for the cop on the beat.
It is called the ArcGIS Open Data Initiative for Law Enforcement and can be used by any type or kind of policing agency.
At the present time, it is being deployed by the United States federal government in an effort to support the White House Police Data Initiative. According to John Beck, Director of Law Enforcement Solutions at Esri, “We want to make it easy for law enforcement agencies to participate in the White House Police Data Initiative . . . using the ArcGIS platform, you can use data your agency already owns and make it available to everyone at no cost and increase transparency in your community.” (SOURCE: https://www.directionsmag.com/pressrelease/5975).
This software-based solution is designed specifically to give law enforcement agencies an edge when it comes to providing a location platform that uses maps and map-based information. The ultimate goal of this is to improve public trust, which has eroded greatly over the past few years.
Some of the features of this new software package include the following:
- Creating open sourced data portals
- Creating maps of crime scenes in great detail
- Creating 3-D maps to help in visualizing shooting scenes
- Creating maps of major crime scene investigations
- Creating other visual aids that can be used to determine crime trends and patterns
GeoTel is a telecommunications research and GIS mapping firm that researches and provides telecom datasets for more than 6,000 cities in the United States and worldwide. GeoTel’s expertise includes specialists in economic geography, geospatial engineering, web GIS, and telecommunications GIS Data infrastructure.
