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Street Safe

Artifacture's picture
Submitted by Artifacture on November 30, 2011 - 10:56
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Cities with their high population can sometimes create an environment that fosters crime. Awareness of criminal activity is one way to be safer while on the streets of any city. The goal of Street Safe is to use local crime data and possibly crowndsourced data to help city dwellers be more aware of crime in their city. The application will allow users of smart phones to be notified of unsafe areas while they are walking/passing through them.
User Stories: 

 

  1. As a visitor to Altanta, Emily wants to take a walk around Midtown and see local architecture. She would like to know what areas are less safe since she is not familiar all the streets.
  2. Walking across an urban campus at night, John feels a vibration from his phone that let's him know he is in an area with recent criminal activity.
  3. While grabbing a drink at the local coffee shop, Jeff gets a notice from his phone that the gas station next door has been robbed. Since he is a aware he is on the lookout and notices somebody fleeing the scene. He is able to give that description to the local law enforcement.
Extra Credit: 

 

In addition to iOS and Android apps, there could be extensions to other platforms as well.
Similar Projects and Resources: 

Potential add-on to http://www.crimemapping.com

Qualitative Impact: 
Street Safe will provide better awareness of crime in urban settings for locals and visitors alike.
Quantitative Impact: 
Potential impact is the lowering of crime in urban areas through awareness affecting thousands.
Problem Definition Category: 
Urban

Comments

Here's an example that uses Ushahidi -- http://crime.mapatl.com/ We've built apps for iOS and Android too... Web and Mobile platforms are all Open Source.

dkobia Nov 30, 2011

 

I'm not sure that I feel good about this idea as it reenforces biases and crime statistics to ensure that a unsafe area never improves. Evacuating all smart phone users from an area would create a technology and wealth vacuum from an area.

 
The contra theory is that if large amounts of 'safe' people were directed to unsafe areas it would make that area noticeably safer - along with encouraging community development through commerce and active involved citizens.
 
As this mentions neighborhood campuses around Atlanta; the improvements in Midtown , Downtown near Georgia State, and the Little 5 Points areas over the last two decades have been substantial as home ownership and living districts have improved - increasing both cultural and income diversity.
stephenreid Dec 01, 2011

The application would not direct people to safe areas, rather let them know that crimnial activity has happened recently in the area they are in. The time is yet to be defined and this problem still needs to evolve in a group setting to work out the kinks and prevent reinforcing biases. Crime happens everywhere, but this application may open the eyes of people to be more aware of their surroundings.

Artifacture Dec 02, 2011

I think it's a good idea because the ability to create alerts in real time using equipment such as mobile. It is necessary to create a database with all data crimilaticos the region, creating an intelligence that can make a circular analysis.

 

I'm sure it's a good project to invest your time! 

tiarebalbi Dec 02, 2011

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