Computer system lets Cape turn data into maps and charts

Through use of a certain computer system, Cape Girardeau's city departments are able to operate in a new way.

Using geographic information systems -- GIS -- means being able to capture city, county, state and even federal data and manipulate them into maps and charts for department or public use.

The Cape Girardeau Police Department, for example, is using GIS to map crimes and search for patterns.

"Patterns of crimes is what we're focusing on now, and if someone has questions about statistics in a particular neighborhood," said Sgt. Adam Glueck.

The maps can be accessed from computers inside the city's firewall, which include the laptops installed in most patrol cars. The ease of access is particularly helpful in public events, such as the department's recently introduced Neighborhood Roll Call program.

"The idea is if we have a neighborhood where we're doing roll call, and we have residents asking about crimes in that area, with GIS, we can highlight parts of the city and show them what crimes are happening and where," Glueck said.

Anyone who has taken a moment to watch a recent city demonstration or study a map or chart has seen firsthand the work that can be accomplished with GIS. The maps and charts of road conditions and project locations during the Transportation Trust Fund 5 public meetings earlier this year were made with help from the system. The interactive "Gone Girl" filming locations map available through the city website was a GIS project, too.

The use of GIS among city departments has become more prevalent in recent years, now that the city has taken all its major infrastructure data from paper records and digitized them. Continued improvements in software and technology also have made its use more affordable and less time-consuming.

Alliance Water Resources provides the labor and management for the city's system.

While Alliance is known more for its role running the city's water system, it is a management company that has taken a larger role in GIS work as more cities begin to use the systems, explained Jacob Meuth, who serves as Cape Girardeau's GIS manager through Alliance.

The city recently went through some upgrades and now has a top-of-the-line system, and department leaders have embraced the use of GIS, Meuth said.

He and others are working to make the system more user-friendly by creating web applications.

These narrow the available tools to those most applicable to a specific department and provide simple mapmaking tools and instructions.

The crime maps police officers are able to access come from one of the first applications created.

Meuth said employees still are going through training to make sure everyone understands and is able to get the most use out of the maps.

With the application, officers can create a map based on location, time intervals or types of crime.

By simply drawing a boundary over a certain area in the city, highlights pop up on the map indicating where a crime was reported.

A bar graph or pie chart also is generated, giving the officer an idea of how reported crimes stack up against each other and whether any patterns could be established.

It's a much simpler way to analyze information compared to the past method, which involved paper maps and pushpins, Glueck said.

"If we have a particular area seeing a lot of car break-ins, it's nice to look at that area and be able to see where and when the break-ins are happening," he said. "Once we have an idea where it's happening, then we can adjust patrols around where those crimes are taking place."

The use of GIS is beneficial across the board for public safety officials. Maps can be generated for the fire department with a fire safety layer or a hazardous materials layer.

It's even useful for hydrant analysis.

A visual created through GIS showed how hydrant flow has changed over the past decade with the replacement of 2-inch water mains.

One visual showed large dark spots dotting the map, particularly around downtown, indicating hydrants with poor pressure.

The second visual, based on the most recent testing, showed significantly fewer spots.

"You could make a spreadsheet and put in analyses for all these fire hydrants, and it wouldn't mean much," Meuth said. "But with this, it's easy to see where your problems are and where your improvements are."

Maps created through GIS also make planning and development work easier. If a developer expresses interest in a large project, the city quickly can pull up a map of the area, including details such as zoning information and available infrastructure.

"There's a lot you can do for a business developer," Meuth said. "They sometimes want this information quickly, and this allows the city not (to) be that holdup, as far as information goes."

In the public-works department, GIS has a role in almost every area. Like police officers, public-works employees can access maps from laptops installed in the department's trucks, said public-works director Steve Cook.

"We can look at it on the screen and see where water lines, sewer lines and stormwater lines are," he said. "People used to have to go out there and look or use the [paper] mapping system, and now it's right there at your fingertips."

From roads to pipes, Cook said the system has been used frequently by his department.

That's the kind of balance the city's GIS coordinators strive for, Meuth said. It can be easy to be swept away by the data.

Every department brings a significant amount of information to the table, and continuing to make the best use of it can require a little creative thinking.

"As a GIS person, I have an idea of what it can do, but not everyone else does. But I don't know the intricacy of planning or organizing a city like Molly or Scott," he said, referring to assistant city manager Molly Hood and city manager Scott Meyer.

It's all about looking at the bigger picture and seeing how pieces of data can transform into "powerful information," Meyer said. The more employees understand about GIS, the more it can improve efficiency and customer service.

"As we begin to use it more and add more features, like crime or maybe the rental licensing [program], and then we begin to add these layers, like census data and our data, we can see how this stuff interacts -- or does it interact," he said.

For the immediate future, Meuth said the focus is on creating more web applications.

Ideally, each department would have its own, in addition to a citywide application.

One also will be created for public use, focusing on areas such as public works -- leaf pickup and plowing schedules, for example -- and other popular items such as parks and facilities.

Later this year, once more advances have been made in the application's creation, GIS coordinators plan to engage in public events to share more information about the system.

With those accomplishments, "GIS will truly be citywide," Meuth said. "It won't just be for city hall; it will be for everybody."

srinehart@semissourian.com

388-3641

Pertinent address:

Cape Girardeau, Mo.