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Thursday 22 September 2011

Producers and consumers brainstorm the potential of geospatial data for crime analysis

On Tuesday 20th the GeoCrimeData Project ran a workshop attended by 16 crime analysis stakeholders who will ultimately form part of the main user group for the data that we produce. There was a healthy 50-50 split between people working in crime-reduction organisations and academic researchers interested in crime and the analysis of spatial data more generally. This eclectic group helped to ensure that the discussion about access to and use of geospatial data was stimulating, focused and embraced an unusually wide range of perspectives.


The core of the meeting consisted of a breakout session where the delegates were split into two groups (developers of geospatial data and potential users of data) to discuss:
  1. who might use the data and how they could use it
  2. what the barriers are to the uptake of geospatial data
  3. how these barriers can be overcome by developers.
The feedback was extremely useful for the project and will directly impact upon the spatial analyses that we perform and the ways in which we release and publicise the data. We are in the process of writing a summary about the barriers and solutions which will be relevant to many groups who use geospatial data, not just those interested in crime analysis.

2 comments:

  1. Really enjoyed taking part in this workshop - good mix of attendees, from across the sectors, ensured the discussion scanned the issues/problems using several 'lens'.

    The Governments view on transparency and data accessibility makes for interesting read... [see http://www.cabinetoffice.gov.uk/resource-library/making-open-data-real-public-consultation ] With typical understatement, the authors view open data and transparency as potentially "the most powerful levers of 21st Century public policy". Mmmm. Whatever your views on this and those making such wonderful statements, this GeoCrimeData project may be a perfectly timed trailblazer to test boundaries re data sharing? (and test the government rhetoric?).
    cheers, Michael

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  2. Thanks for your comment Michael, I'm glad you enjoyed the workshop. The consultation is definitely very relevant to the project, especially if it means that more data will be released publicly. We'll have to put some thought towards how we might best use it to our advantage.

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