Aerial photography is helping North Yorkshire Police save time and resources in the largest county in the UK. Supplied by Bluesky International and Getmapping under the Aerial Photography for Great Britain (APGB) contract with the Geospatial Commission, the high resolution imagery is used across the force.
Accessed via desktop Geographical Information System (GIS) and mapping software the photography is in use in missing person searches, surveillance planning, anti-social behaviour management and crime investigations. The APGB imagery adds detail and real world context to Ordnance Survey MasterMap data and the recently introduced What3Words geocoding system.
Rupert Carey, GIS Applications Support Engineer, North Yorkshire Police said: “The APGB imagery gives Control Room and frontline staff choices they did not have before. They can now choose to have the detail, familiarity and usability of the photography as well as the intelligence of the mapping. Before this contract, if priorities demanded it and budgets allowed, we purchased imagery for a specific location or event. Now, with complete coverage of the county, available at the click of a button, we can save time and resources and help to transform policing in North Yorkshire.”
The APGB imagery is available at a resolution of 25 centimetres for the whole county; with urban centres, such as the city of York, at the even higher 12.5 centimetre resolution. Available as an extra map layer within the force’s Northgate GIS software, users of the photography include the Force Control Room for the identification of locations for resource deployment, Police Search Advisors (POLSA) to define and manage search areas, analysts to advise strategic and operational activities besides Investigators, Emergency and Tactical Planners and Business Advisors.
Applications of the imagery by operational officers and staff also include use by the Rural Crime Teams for detecting, recording and investigating crimes such as hare coursing, egg thefts and badger baiting, Surveillance Teams for planning and carrying out undercover operations, Firearms Licencing checks and use by Neighbourhood Policing teams. North Yorkshire Police also can access detailed height measurements under the APGB contract. The Digital Terrain or ‘bare earth’ Models (DTMs) and Digital Surface Models (DSMs), which include ground features such as built structures or trees, are initially being used by missing person search teams and in business planning for the siting of radio masts.
Picture by Mark Rowe; York Minster.
