NYPD selects MapInfo for citywide crime analysis

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By Linda Rosencrance

(IDG) -- Using MapInfo Corp.'s MapXtreme for Windows, police precincts in New York City will, for the first time, soon have access to a timely view of crime patterns in surrounding neighborhoods, making crime analysis easier.

Until now, individual precincts were able to map crime patterns only in their own areas, according to Sabby Nayar, marketing manager for the energy and government sectors at Troy, New York-based MapInfo. Using the Java-based Internet mapping system, each precinct will be able to analyze crime patterns in every neighborhood by location, type and frequency, which Nayar said will help the department prevent crime in the future.

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"Law enforcement [agencies] are significant users because MapXtreme is easier to use," Nayar said. "Detectives and precinct commanders who might not be technically savvy can use our desktop system."

The New York Police Department couldn't be reached for comment. But Nayar said the department isn't yet ready to talk about the new system.

MapInfo said the NYPD will use its MapXtreme for broad deployment of mapping and crime analysis tools throughout the department, via NYPD's wide-area network. Nayar said the enterprisewide crime analysis system will be developed during 2002 and is timed to coincide with a major upgrade to the department's records management system. The system will cost more than $100,000, but Nayar declined to state a specific price.

Nayar said MapInfo has worked with the department since 1994, when the NYPD first began conducting weekly Crime Control Strategy meetings, or ComStat (Computerized Statistics), to increase the flow of information between department officials and precinct commanders. The meetings are part of an effort to reduce crime.

MapXtreme will bring together crime data from across the city, map the data visually so that patterns are easy to identify and make that information available over the NYPD's intranet for faster, more comprehensive analysis of crime patterns, Nayar said.

MapXtreme also extends a user's database, such as the IBM DB2 used by the NYPD, so it can store, manage and manipulate location-based data. Commanders can then select and work with spatial data at a specified location, within a rectangle, a given radius or a polygon such as a precinct, Nayar said. For example, a commander can request a list of all jewelry stores within a one-mile radius of the precinct, he said. Currently, the database doesn't allow a user to query such spatial data, he said.

Nayar said the NYPD has been working on implementing this new system for several years. "It took three years for the moon and stars to align," he said.