Deploying GIS Across Campus to Improve Public Safety at the University of Rhode Island
The University of Rhode Island (URI) employs a number of “GIS Champions,” people who understand how GIS can aid in decision-making and promote its use across their organization. The GIS evangelists at URI spread the good news across departments at the university, converting one data manager after another from spreadsheets to maps. One such department taking advantage of GIS resources is the department of public safety.
My name is Maegan Shanaghan and I am the GIS Specialist for the Office of Spatial Services at URI. In this blog post, I will describe how my office has collaborated with public safety to transition their siloed, spread-sheet based data into a single-platform GIS product.
Collaboration between the department of public safety and the office of spatial services has allowed several public safety datasets previously maintained separately to live in a single place: the enterprise geodatabase. This collection of data includes emergency blue light phones, exterior security cameras, automatic external defibrillators (AEDs), and the parking space inventory. The transition from spreadsheet to map required an initial lift: dropping a point on the map to represent each row in the spreadsheet. The tabular data still exists, but now it lives behind the points. Excel loyalists are assuaged by GIS’s ability to overlay previously isolated datasets, edit location and attribute information, and make informed decisions based upon the compiled data.
URI Assistant Director of Public Safety Sam Adams describes why he ditched the spreadsheets and earned the rank of GIS Champion:
“The GIS tools we've developed for public safety at URI help us bring together disparate data sources to evaluate our safety and security infrastructure in a holistic manner not previously possible. The ability to view "flat" data spatially allows us to gain new insights to better protect our campus community and improve quality of life for our students, faculty, staff, and visitors.”
Desktop Editing
One of the tools Adams refers to is an Experience Builder data editing application hosted on URI’s ArcGIS Enterprise Portal. Public safety staff don’t need to be trained in GIS to edit their GIS data. They use the edit widget to perform basic editing tasks: marking a security camera as out of service, creating a feature for a newly installed blue light phone, or moving an existing AED to a different location.
While in the Field
When not at their desks, Public Safety staff access their GIS data through ArcGIS Field Maps, a mobile application available for download on Apple and Android devices. The Field Maps application is built upon an existing web map containing your editable feature layer(s). Simply add your layers to a web map, use the Field Maps designer to format your questions, and share the application with the data collector.
URI uses ArcGIS Field Maps to inventory and inspect their automatic external defibrillators (AEDs), the red and white boxes you see on walls in public spaces. Inspection records are not spatial features. They do not appear as points on the map. Inspections are maintained in a related table linked to the AED feature layer. Every AED has a global ID, a string of numbers and letters unique to a single feature. When the data collector selects an AED to inspect, that AED’s global ID is automatically recoded in the inspection table, linking the inspection to the device, and maintaining past inspections in the database.
Transportation and Parking
While AEDs, emergency phones, and security cameras are valuable public safety assets, there is no hotter commodity on a college campus than parking. The parking space inventory at URI is maintained in GIS and edited with Experience Builder and Field Maps applications. Each spot is a point feature on the map, colorized by restriction: ADA, motorcycle, electric vehicle, service vehicle, and further classified by user: commuter student, resident student, faculty/staff, visitor, multiuse.
Transportation and parking staff use this data to decide how many and what kinds of parking permits to sell, as well as inform the public of ADA parking accommodations. URI contributes data to Esri’s Community Maps program, so the ADA spots you see in the image above are translated into ADA spots on Esri’s publicly available basemaps. The parking data also serves the Planning and Real Estate staff at the university. How many parking spots will we lose if we construct a new residence hall in this location? Use the select widget and you’ll find out!
Data Security
Some public safety data, like ADA parking spaces, is meant to be shared with the entire university community. However, the locations of other public safety assets are sensitive. For this reason, URI hosts its public safety data on the ArcGIS Enterprise Portal. In contrast to ArcGIS Online, in which data is hosted on Esri servers, Enterprise data is hosted on URI-owned servers. Additionally, the Portal interface allows GIS data mangers to select who in our organization should have access to what data through groups. For example, the “Parking Services” group only includes portal members who need editing access to the parking inventory.
On the Horizon
The GIS Champions at URI are always thinking about new ways to improve public safety with GIS technology. Next on the list is deploying ArcGIS GeoEvent Server, which will incorporate live data feeds into our maps. We imagine a map of parking lots turning from red to green as parking spaces become available; the data transmitted in real time by sensors at the entrances of the lots. We are also in the process of implementing ArcGIS Indoors, which opens new doors (no pun intended) to asset mapping within a building.
If you are interested in sharing stories about GIS for public safety at your institution, please contact me at mshanaghan@uri.edu or leave a comment below!