Visualize Your Data in Defining a System

Visualize Your Data

In defining a system to be used for visualizing case information and also capable of supporting geographic information systems (GIS) crime and incident analysis, standardizing on the ESRI ArcGIS Server and its Law Enforcement Data Model would provide a scalable, agile foundation for data visualization and future growth. The components or modules that need to be included in the system include Crime Analysis, Data Fusion/Intelligence Analysis, Community Corrections, COMPSTAT statistics module, Resource Management, Process Routing and MDT/MDC integration. Taken together these components and ArcGIS Server platform would provide for greater criminal analysis visualization and prediction over time. The use of data visualization in crime prediction and prevention, coupled with pattern and data analysis, has shown to have significant effects on reducing crime in targeted regional and metro areas (Xu, Chen, 2005).

Advantages Of Including A Data Visualization Component

There are many advantages of having a data visualization software platform and its associated components available. First and most significant is the ability to map crime areas and through the use of data sets, attempt to quantify or predict the factors most leading to the crimes being committed there. This approach to gaining analytical insight into crimes can drastically reduce them through more effective preventative programs and initiatives. Second, having a data visualization component can also provide very valuable insights into the historical and causal analysis of crimes and trending across the metro area, controlling for broader macroeconomic factors. This can be invaluable in understanding how previous levels of unemployment, housing and rental prices, and related crimes have an effect on a given neighborhood or metro area in terms of its crime being experiences today. Third, a data visualization platform or system can be used for ascertaining the most probable or "soft" targets a terrorist might choose to attack. The L.A. Police Department is today using data visualization and geographic information systems (GIS) to anticipate and predict where terrorist attacks might occur as well (Havenstein, 2006). A fourth benefit of having a data visualization platform is in creating a knowledgebase of local communities that show spatial statistics of crime analysis (Pike, Bruce, Baddeley, Best, Franklin, May, Rice, Riensche, Younkin, 2009). This type of advanced analysis continues to be proven very effective in discovering and acting on the apparent unrelated factors influencing crime to begin with (Xu, Chen, 2005). A fifth benefit of integrating a data visualization component into a broader GIS system is the ability to create crime indices within each city and community, and then be able to measure the impact of crime prevention strategies over time (Post, 2011).

Anticipated Benefit