CHESTERTOWN—The Geographic Information Systems (GIS) program, part of the Center for Environment and Society at Washington College, will be putting $216,000 in state monies to work in a variety of mapping projects for municipal planners and law-enforcement agencies.
GIS Program Coordinator Stewart Bruce says the funding comes from the renewal of a grant from the Maryland Governor’s Office of Crime Control and Prevention (GOCCP). Now in its third year, the grant funds the salaries of three summer interns, three student interns for the fall and spring and two full-time staff (Crime Analysts Caryn Thomas and Andrew Wright). It also partially funds the salaries of Bruce and sociology professor Dr. Andrea Lange, who serves as GOCCP Project Director.
The GIS lab at Washington College was established in 2002 by John Seidel, director of the College’s Center for Environment and Society, and his predecessor Wayne Bell. The lab produces crime maps on demand for the state, makes maps for police departments, provides GIS technical training to crime analysts, and promotes crime-data sharing through an innovative web mapping application.
GIS can map a wide range of information, says Bruce, from the availability of social services, to homicide rates, to the distribution of owned-occupied versus rental properties. This provides a great visual aid for law enforcement. The mapping of criminal justice data for law enforcement creates an image of a neighborhood that numbers on a piece of paper can’t. “The ability to analyze information provides unique insights into the spatial relationships between various data sets that you can’t get from just tabular data,” Bruce says. “If you look at the numbers on a spreadsheet, you can’t necessarily see the relationship. A picture is worth a thousand words; the same goes with a map.”
Charlie Rhodes, Chief of Police in Centreville, says another main benefit of the mapping program is the heightened ability to share information among law enforcement officers in different counties. “We may be looking at the same guy and not even know it,” says Rhodes. With GIS, “there’s much more data available in real time that enables police agencies to share crime information in a more timely fashion,” he adds.
Bruce notes that the combination of WC’s small size and the funding from grants such as these provide students with valuable opportunities. “At a larger university, I wouldn’t hire an undergrad. This gives students the opportunity to do graduate-level work at a smaller institution,” Bruce says. “We’re engaging our students in these real-world problems, where they have a chance to use critical thinking and help state government reduce violent crime and property crime in Maryland.”
In addition to the GOCCP grant, the GIS lab received a new $10,000 contract from the Town of Chestertown to create 3-D mapping of 80 to 90 historic buildings. Eventually these maps will become a 3-D historical database that will show not only the structure of the buildings, but also who lived or worked in them and when, along with their occupation and race. The funding for the project is part of an $18,000 grant to Chestertown from the Maryland Historical Trust.
June 14, 2010
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