Safety in view: A public safety visual analytics tool based on CCTV camera angles of view

Campus security and police departments have implemented a multitude of safety precautions, including CCTV cameras. The efficiency and effectiveness of using CCTV camera resources for preventing crimes result in higher demand. We implemented a visual analytics tool to analyze the existing CCTV camera resources and suggest improved allocation schemas based on blind spots and crime data. Our tool provides the user with an interactive safe path calculation method for walking purpose on the basis of the maximum monitoring area. Additionally, avoiding buildings in the calculated path is an optional control factor. Our tool also provides functions for crime data analysis. The camera-alarming function highlights the cameras that a specific crime occurred in their visible range. The camera-ranking function highlights the camera that records the largest number of crime incidents. Based on the historical crime data, we suggest locations for future camera installation. We present two case studies to illustrate the usage and features of our tool on the campus of Purdue University.