London Metropolitan Police Crime Mapping (TEST SITE)

London Metropolitan Police Crime Mapping (TEST SITE)

Polygons are generalised but the thematic map shows the crime rates across Greater London.

Areas of London are colour coded to show crime levels in user selected areas relative to other areas of London. Specifically, areas are colour coded according to how their crime rates compare to the average for London. This is done using standard deviations - a statistical measure used here to calculate how close to the London average an area´s crime rate is. The following ranges are used to describe this within the maps:

• Burglary, robbery and vehicle crime
  (June 2008)
• High
  
• Above Average
• Average
• Below Average
• Low

"The purpose of this site is to help show where crime is occurring at a local neighbourhood level.

It has been developed by the MPS in conjunction with the Metropolitan Police Authority and the Mayor of London.

This is a live test site (known technically within the industry as a 'beta'). It is intended to test the functionality of crime mapping, with a view to adding further features in the near future, based on your feedback.

Please note, that whilst every effort is made to record the details of crime and its location as accurately as possible, there are occasions when victims are unable to provide the actual location of a crime. In these instances, the site will not be able to display all the crime reported to the police."

http://maps.met.police.uk/

Testing the N82 with Sports Tracker (Beta)

Testing the N82 with Sports Tracker (Beta)


Mapperz goes testing....N82 Sports Tracker (Beta) and Nokia Maps (phone, sports tracker software and bag generously supplied by WOM World)
http://www.womworld.com/nseries/category/n82/

Not going to go into details of build quality, looks or if it makes phone calls. There are plenty of other sites doing this.
Gets Go!

Sports Tracker enables the user to log or track your progress, it displays a pace, speed, altitude etc.
Official Full Details
http://research.nokia.com/research/projects/SportsTracker/

Sport Tracker Beta Site
http://sportstracker.nokia.com/nts/main/index.do (login required to use the service Free)

Mapperz coverage of the Sport Tracker Beta (previous post)
http://mapperz.blogspot.com/2007/11/nokia-sports-tracker-beta-map.html

Integrated GPS
Get as quick fix with the assistance of:

BlueTooth GPS (not needed)
A-GPS on
Integrated GPS on
Network Based on

Access point
GPRS (check default as will use WAP which is more expensive)
nokia server for A-GPS
supl.nokia.com

WOM wanted Mapperz to test out.
"Testing the sports trackers ability to track journey routes, along with other info regarding altitude, distance etc would be really interesting!"

So here is a train journey...


A tracking issue or gps issue?


Think the issue here is that the GPS and lack of 'field of view' to the sky.
A 'wobble' in the tracking - due a high filter correction method as default?
here is an interesting article
http://wubbahed.com/2007/07/12/gps-quality-on-the-n95/
Highlights the GPS being 'hyper-active' (note this was from an N95 with firmware updates)
The N82 seems better than the N95 for 'gps filtering'

Maybe there is a call for the A-GPS to be active on startup with an option to disable it on tracking mode (unless within an urban area). This should create a smoother tracking line.

Improvements: that could make this the perfect mobile map device:

• Nokia please add the Nokia maps (map data) to the sports tracker. Not the navigational functions just the base map. (Mapperz has done this via Nokia Feedback). This would improve the usefulness of the application beyond 'tracking'.
  

• Automatic screen rotation option to switch it off. Walking briskly with it in hand for using it in Nokia Map mode was jumping into landscape mode.

• Ghost Tracking - where a previous track can be overlaid, very useful to runners, walkers etc would like to do the same routes in part of their routine.=

• Imperial/Decimal Mode but with the option of Meters in Height (UK distance in Miles but UK height in Meters)
  

Spot the difference between Sports Tracker and Nokia Maps
Noticed when in Nokia Maps - the 'tracking' would snap to roads running along next to the railway. But the Sport Tracker did not.
This is a small issue - there must be some sort of rank - Motorways more important than Rail or A Roads on the Vector Map Data.
Have noticed that when going over a bridge going over a motorway/primary route the cursor snaps the major road rather than the road your are on.

N82 v N95
Not an easy one but there are improvements in the N82 over the N95.
Start up is faster & less crashing when running multiple applications
Camera Flash at night is much better on the N82 by miles.
Battery life has improved on the N95 (even after firmware v20).
But the N82 battery seems to go further than the N95 by about 6 hours (general use).
Screen size is a little smaller than the N95 but in general not any less functional.
It's slightly cheaper

If you want go for an unlocked N82 for 2008.
Test a N82 (limited places left)
http://www.nseries.com/index.html?l=campaigns,n82,demand#l=campaigns,n82,demand

If buying it - its worth getting directly from here at £399 +£3.99 standard delivery.
(you get a free bag.)
http://shop.nokia.co.uk/nokia-uk/product.aspx?sku=3759722&section_id=530&culture=en-GB

Clincher - N82 with TomTom - in Car
The N82 is a better navigational device for getting around London against the TomTom
XL Europe. why?
TomTom data was out of date and 'drop out' from GPS mode in between high buildings.
N82 had up to date data and no drop out was noticed (A-GPS and cell based positioning was on)

Full Spec of the N82 in depth.
http://www.gadgetnutz.com/modules/news/article.php?storyid=00420

Yes you can make and receive phone calls to.

Thanks to WOM World for the chance to test the phone and sports tracker.

Sat Nav loses to Road Atlas

Interesting to see the outcome of this test.


Four users were to Navigate through London:

One was given an AA's Great Road Atlas 2007
Another used the satellite navigation system (a Garmin unit)
The third was supplied with a printed map using Microsoft Autoroute 2006
The four participant made use of the Government's free Transport Direct website.

Results were surprising.

1st in 1 hour and 35 minutes for the AA's Great Road Atlas 2007.
2nd 1 hour and 43 minutes for the Garmin Sat Nav.
3rd 1 hour 49 minutes for the printed Autoroute map.
4th 1 hour 56 minutes for the Transport Direct map.

Question
but why?

Answer
It is true technology guides and helps us all in performing tasks.
However it is the way the information is communicated to the user.
So in this case the Cartography wins this task by providing the user with clear instructions that can be applied in the real world.

Until 'Sat Nav' companies use cartographers to help them present the data and have cartographic editors to verify and double check the source data is correct the hardcopy map will win.



Look out for the New AA 1:100,000 (currently 1:200,000) Road Atlas going to print soon, this goes head to head with the Philips Scale of Road Altas.