Lincolnshire Police has taken delivery of a countywide GeoPerspectives aerial photomap supplied by aerial survey company Bluesky. The photography is now accessible by some users of the Force’s Intranet, and work is also underway to integrate the photomap as a data layer within its geographical information system (GIS) such that the aerial photography can be viewed within the Force Command and Control System.
The Bluesky imagery is already being used within some Operational Orders and Contingency Plans, providing additional intelligence for the management of a wide range of incidents. Authorised users of Lincolnshire Police’s Intranet can access the photography at the desktop, and it’s intended that this capability will soon be made available to call takers and controllers within the Force’s Command and Control Centre. In turn, this will allow users to better identify and visualise locations as they are described to them by callers. This same facility will also be made available to help incident commanders manage their response when remote from the incident in question.
“Aerial photography gives us important intelligence for managing the response to incidents and investigating incident scenes,” commented Ian Watkins, emergency planning officer for Lincolnshire Police. “Although it’s early days in terms of the implementation within our Command and Control operations, we feel it will be a great asset in ensuring that we can optimise resources and provide a fast and effective response.”
Unique challenges and opportunities
Lincolnshire is one of the largest and fastest-growing rural counties in the UK, presenting the police service with a range of unique challenges and opportunities to serve the population. Additional intelligence extracted from the Bluesky aerial photography is vital. Site or area-specific images can be used – either in printed format by deployed staff or electronically as part of briefings – to give a more realistic view of what responding officers may be faced with when arriving at an incident. Now, all unmapped features can be considered during the construction of plans.
As stated, it’s intended that the Bluesky aerial photography be introduced as a data layer within Lincolnshire Police’s GIS, enabling images to be viewed instead of, or simultaneously with, normal map data within NSPIS Command and Control. “It’s not always possible to obtain aerial views of an ongoing incident scene,” continued Watkins. “Weather conditions, lack of helicopter resources or risk issues are common so this data will become an invaluable resource.”
GeoPerspectives: a joint venture
GeoPerspectives is a joint venture between BlueSky and Infoterra providing national coverage of orthorectified aerial photography, digital terrain and surface models for 3D modelling, in addition to colour infrared imagery for vegetation analysis
