High resolution aerial photography is informing day-to-day decisions, and long-term planning and reporting for the Metropolitan Police. Supplied as part of a multi-million-pound Government mapping contract, the Bluesky International imagery is a layer in the Met’s newly relaunched Met Map.
As a web-based Geographical Information System (GIS), Met Map provides access for more than 8000 users to base mapping, including the Bluesky images, operational details and crime data. Applications of Met Map include crime analysis, enquiries and searches, specialist operations and event planning. As part of the force’s long-term strategy; the Met Direction, the Met has prioritised use of data and tech in the pursuit of criminals, making information more accessible internally, and externally, to support evidence-based decisions and promote public confidence. Day-to-day applications include missing person searches, CCTV studies, accident and collision investigations and operational planning. Users of Met Map include neighbourhood and borough management teams, investigation units and specialist operations. Base mapping comes from Ordnance Survey and A-Z, and corporate layers, for example borough or command boundaries. Other data comes from partners such as Transport for London (TfL) and is integrated via APIs. The police can add up to ten million data points a day.
Ralph Coleman, Chief Commercial Officer at Bluesky said: “Aerial photography is now being more widely-used for applications across our professional and personal spaces making it more familiar and easier to engage with for non-technical staff within the Met, members of the public and other stakeholders. The additional detail is particularly vital when more granular analysis is necessary as within the images you can clearly see important features like road markings, undergrowth information and street furniture, including rubbish bins that would not be present in other types of maps. The age of the imagery is also important; as we commit to a three-year, nationwide update programme, users can be confident they are accessing the most up-to-date resource available.”
The Bluesky data is supplied under the Aerial Photography Great Britain (APGB) contract, which gives local authorities, emergency services, environmental bodies and central government departments, access to, free at point of use, aerial data. Another user is Anglian Water; and in land development, to check for areas of geological hazards and associated risks, such as sinkholes in chalk.
