Street Segment Crime Density Mapping via Segmentation
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing crime and traffic accident mapping systems fail to accurately display crime patterns, frequencies, and rates along street segments, leading to inaccurate information and difficulty in identifying high-crime areas, especially when zoomed out, and do not effectively differentiate between crime types and rates.
Innovation Solution
An interactive street safety map system that provides detailed crime and traffic accident information by linking incidents to specific street segments, using different colors to depict severity, and allowing dynamic display at various scales, incorporating real-time location data and data from police departments, enabling users to visualize crime and traffic incidents at a micro-level.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Measurement precision
If crime data is displayed as individual dots on a map, then each incident can be geo-located at a micro-level, but individual dots blur when zoomed out making it difficult to identify high-crime areas
Solution Approach 1:
The patent segments the map into street segments as discrete units and aggregates crime data at this intermediate level. This segmentation allows the system to maintain micro-level geolocation precision by associating crimes with specific street segments while avoiding the blur problem of individual dots when zoomed out, as street segments provide a structured framework that remains distinguishable at various scales.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent transitions from a two-dimensional dot display to a multi-dimensional approach by incorporating street segment hierarchy and aggregation levels. Crime data is displayed both as individual points and aggregated by street segment, adding a dimensional layer that allows users to view data at different granularities without losing information, effectively resolving the contradiction between micro-level precision and macro-level pattern visibility.
2Quantity of substance
If heat map presentation is used to show crime density, then high clustered crime areas can be visualized, but detailed location information for less reported incidents is omitted and crime types and rates are not effectively differentiated
Solution Approach 1:
The patent applies local quality by assigning different visual properties to different street segments based on their specific crime characteristics. Each street segment can display crime density, crime types, and crime rates with distinct visual encodings, allowing detailed information to be preserved locally while maintaining overall density visualization. This enables less reported incidents and different crime types to be differentiated without losing the big picture view.
3Object-affected harmful factors
If crime data is aggregated to hundred block level to protect privacy, then privacy regulations are complied with, but geocoded points become inaccurate regarding actual event locations
Solution Approach 1:
The patent uses street segments as an intermediate aggregation unit between individual addresses and hundred-block levels. This segmentation allows the system to protect privacy by aggregating data to street segment level (coarser than individual addresses) while maintaining better location accuracy than hundred-block level aggregation. The street segment provides a meaningful geographic unit that balances privacy protection with location precision.
Data Source
AI summary
An interactive street safety map system for internet, GPS, and mobile users is disclosed. The system is designed to identify crime and traffic accidents information at street level. Each street segment on the map indicates low to high density of crime and traffic accidents in different colors in order to improve public perception of safety on each of the streets displayed. The system includes crime and traffic accident data, and the system users can query the data for their interest locations, crime types, crime date and time of occurrence, and the number of crime incidents and traffic accidents. Ultimately, the online street safety map allows users to choose relatively low risk of crime and traffic accident streets for their own safety. The system harvests crime and traffic information data from police departments through Computer-Aided Dispatch (CAD), Recorded Management Systems (RMS), and other crime and traffic information sharing services.