Somber but Useful - the GIS side of GPS

Here’s a good example of the power of mapping combined with precise locations of events. Not such an amusing set of events, since it’s the map of homicide locations in New York City, but a very useful illustration of the power of place.

As a long time NYPD fan I was interested in running a year’s worth of data at a time for the Manhattan South police district … the home of the fictional 15th Precinct.  Actually not nearly as many homicides per year s the television would lead one to believe.

When dealing with the alphabet soup surrounding GPS tracking, GIS — Geographic Information Systems often come up.  Technically speaking, every system of vehicles or people being tracked and a map that can answer queries as to times and locations is a GIS.

One of the more mundane but economically valuable components of a well designed GPS/GIS is the ability to automatically route between locations.  In today’s world of $3 and p gasoline, GIS style routing may be what a company needs to make the difference between a profit and a loss.  Typically, one can lop at least ten percent off a route chosen by driver or dispatcher.  If a delivery or service truck uses 20 gallons a day, that’s an easy 5 or 6 bucks saved.

What kind of information on a map that answers queries would make your day better?