GIS systems are even used to raise the community's awareness of crimes. Publicly accessible online search tools offer maps of crime statistics, using eighteen months' worth of police reports. These maps are updated daily, and allow citizens to search based on their zip code, address, police district, neighborhood association or census tract. Useful tools provided by these systems include providing crime totals within five hundred to a thousand feet of any address, which lets prospective homebuyers find out how safe their neighborhood really is.
Crime analysts also make extensive use of GIS mapping, as this technology can help reveal patterns in serial crimes. Charting travel routes and attack locations can help investigators find out where a crime is likely to happen, and catch suspects. Potential targets, and even possible dates and times for crimes can be identified, allowing police to rely on more than just hunches and memory.
Geographical profiling helps organize a large amount of information to make it much easier to understand. While GIS use in law enforcement can't solve cases, it can make focusing an investigation a much simpler process. Using GIS allows crime analysts to pay attention to a much smaller area, allowing fewer resources and less time to be used.
Using GIS, the crime location can be highlighted, and any unnoticed physical boundaries identified. Police can also look at the types of roads and highways near crime sites and track victims' routine behavior. Analyzing the geographic information surrounding crime scenes can tell law enforcement officials where an offender lives.
Constructing a geographical profile is a complex job, which involves being familiar with the case file and examining the crime scenes, interviewing witnesses and investigators, studying maps, analyzing neighborhood demographics and using computer programs to produce an analysis. GPS coordinates are often used to create the most exact maps possible.
The amazing difference that GIS can make in law enforcement means that professionals in this field are in high demand. In fact, there are more companies and agencies looking for GIS professionals than there are trained experts to fill these GIS jobs. A shortage of workers is tending to cause organizations to train other technicians to fill the gap, but specialists are considered more desirable.
Despite the demand for GIS jobs, certification rates remain relatively low - the GIS Certification Institute has existed since 2004, and estimates it will issue only about five hundred certifications a year. Currently, certifications are issued based on applicants' education and work experience. Eventually, they may be based on passing an examination, instead.
GIS jobs are still evolving, with duties variable by individual position. However, specialists are in demand, in areas from law enforcement to oil and gas exploration. GIS jobs start at a technician level, with higher job titles including GIS analyst, manager, and officer. Most require a two or four year university degree in a related subject, though some universities offer a specific GIS degree. GIS jobs focused on leading investigations and projects may require a more advanced degree in the subject, up to a Ph.D.
GIS is a rapidly expanding field, and one that's in demand. GIS jobs offer higher pay rates than positions with similar duties, but no GIS certification. That means that people already in technical fields may wish to pursue education in the field. After all, there's currently more demand for GIS jobs than there are people to fill them. As certifications become more defined and the field continues to develop, GIS is likely to find more uses in everyday life, making it a great career to pursue.
Once confined to geographers, GIS is now being used by many different people, from crime analysts to ecologists, city planners to firefighters. This technology offers a faster, easier way to analyze data, and give a greater chance of accuracy, too. It allows more efficient analysis of data, whether it's information about a series of crimes or marketing information, allowing specialists to create profiles of a given area. GIS is a fast growing, fascinating field, with lots of possible opportunities.
