Durham to adopt GIS technology

Durham Constabulary is tendering for a corporate geographical information system (GIS) solution.

The force says key capabilities of the contract – which according to the notice is valued at up to £240,000 and is expected to run for four years – should include:

•Integration with its Sopra Steria Storm command and control system;

•Crime analysis functionality, including integration with other third-party tools such as IBM i2 ‘Analyst Notebook’;

•Production of high-quality cartography using public sector mapping agreement data;

•Routing calculations;

•Compliance with Open Geospatial Consortium (OGC) standards;

•Gazetteer provision to BS7666;

•Provision of APIs (application program interface) to allow GIS functionality to be incorporated in other applications; and

•Self-service and automation features.

The notice says Durham Constabulary is tendering for a framework agreement to establish a supplier for this provision on behalf of other authorities.

Geographic information location data includes features such as buildings, roads, railways, population density, height and flooding data. It can also be used to provide data about the people in a particular location, such as their age profiles, crime levels or movement patterns.

A GIS can read and analyse this map data. For example, emergency services use it to position their vehicles in the best locations at any given time of day, based on historic patterns of where they are most likely to be needed.