Hennepin County Plans Aerial Mapping Of Buildings
Hennepin County, Minn., is improving emergency preparedness by spending around $400,000 for a program to map each real estate area with high-resolution aerial digital images.
County officials think the computer-based software program and database of 4.8 million property pictures, representing 400,000 buildings each shot from 12 various perspectives, will hurry emergency responses by revealing to SWAT teams and 911 operators the best way to get to buildings or areas.
Pictometry International is apparently the frontrunner for the aerial photo library. The winning company’s small aircraft will fly a grid pattern over Hennepin County, taking 12 photos of every property from a 45-degree angle to provide law enforcement and government agencies point-and-click access to 360-degree views of each building in the county.
Pictometry’s technology offers top, front, back, and side images that obtain each square foot of building area from different perspectives.
So far, the Hennepin County Sheriff’s Office SWAT and 911 teams, County Attorney’s Office violent crimes unit, the Minneapolis 911 team, the Fire Department and bomb squad unit, and the Hennepin County Fire Chiefs Association have voiced interest in utilizing the new technology.
Abstracted by the National Law Enforcement and Corrections Technology Center(NLECTC) from the Finance and Commerce (03/16/06); Geiger, Bob.