In a new, innovative program, Saint Louis University's Geographic Information Systems (GIS) Lab has now created CDs for police and school officials showing schematics and 360-degree photographic images of every classroom, cafeteria, gymnasium and office in two of St. Louis' largest high schools, as well satellite imagery and aerial photographs of buildings' exteriors. Work on mapping two other high schools is in progress this summer.
With the CDs, police responding to reports of violence can virtually walk through the building where the violence is occurring, thus helping them respond more quickly and effectively in a crisis. The program is called the Crisis Intervention Response Application (C.I.R.A.) and will eventually map up to 170 schools in the St. Louis area.
"We believe this a first-of-its-kind program," said James Gilsinan, dean of the University's College of Public Service and an expert on criminal justice issues. "This is a perfect example of SLU using its research resources to address a concern the St. Louis community." The school-mapping project is a joint venture between SLU's College of Public Service, the St. Louis Police Department and the city of St. Louis Public Schools.
Students and staff from the college's department of public policy studies have taken 360-degree photographs of every room in Soldan and Beaumont High Schools in St. Louis. The images were then combined with blueprints of the layouts of the schools, aerial photos and satellite images and assembled on CDs and delivered to St. Louis police. The program can then be launched from any computer, and police officials will have the ability in seconds to click on any area they wish to view.
The University's GIS Lab is a state-of-the-art computer-imaging center for analyzing, processing and displaying spatial data. The school-mapping project was created after Columbine and other school shootings in an effort to help authorities respond quickly to emergencies inside the schools.
For more information on the C.I.R.A. project or the University's GIS Lab, call James Gilsinan, dean of the College of Public Service at 314- 977-3285 or Gary Higgs, C.I.R.A. project manager at
314-977-3384. More information about the GIS Lab can also be found at http://gis.slu.edu/.
Saint Louis University is a leading Catholic, Jesuit research institution ranked among the top fifty national, doctoral universities as a best value by U.S. News & World Report. Founded in 1818, the University strives to foster the intellectual and spiritual growth of its 11,000 students through a broad array of undergraduate, graduate and professional degree programs on campuses in St. Louis and Madrid, Spain.