Sixth formers are to use global positioning systems to show tourists historic sites in a Denbighsire town
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/wales/north_east/4215518.stm
Interesting use of handheld GPS. Not just because it points out a valuable method to popularize and improve history study, but if you read closely, you’ll see that these students have developed an extremely valuable tool for public safety.
How many times have you heard of the expensive and sometimes even tragic cases of law enforcement bursting into the wrong house while serving a warrant and/or trying to make an arrest?
Why wouldn’t every cop be equipped with one of these tools, he or she would know whose house it was and also any legitimate, public record of criminality within.
Almost every fire engine rolls from its station on a call with a “run book” … a list of commercial properties, floor plans, dangerous items, handicapped individuals, etc. How many lives could we save each year if we put the database of public tax records and building plans (always submitted to obtain a building permit) into a simple handeld for fire responders? Our problem is not the technology, or even the costs of digitizing and distributing it. Our problem is our unwillingness to change.
Can you imagine the responders in New Orleans, moving house to house looking for bodies, if they knew instantly in front of whose house they stood and who was supposed to live there? Mind boggling … so what seems to be the hold up … this isn’t rocket science, it’s kid stuff.. well excuse me, not ‘kids’ per se, but college students whose area of expertise is not technical.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/wales/north_east/4215518.stm
Interesting use of handheld GPS. Not just because it points out a valuable method to popularize and improve history study, but if you read closely, you’ll see that these students have developed an extremely valuable tool for public safety.
How many times have you heard of the expensive and sometimes even tragic cases of law enforcement bursting into the wrong house while serving a warrant and/or trying to make an arrest?
Why wouldn’t every cop be equipped with one of these tools, he or she would know whose house it was and also any legitimate, public record of criminality within.
Almost every fire engine rolls from its station on a call with a “run book” … a list of commercial properties, floor plans, dangerous items, handicapped individuals, etc. How many lives could we save each year if we put the database of public tax records and building plans (always submitted to obtain a building permit) into a simple handeld for fire responders? Our problem is not the technology, or even the costs of digitizing and distributing it. Our problem is our unwillingness to change.
Can you imagine the responders in New Orleans, moving house to house looking for bodies, if they knew instantly in front of whose house they stood and who was supposed to live there? Mind boggling … so what seems to be the hold up … this isn’t rocket science, it’s kid stuff.. well excuse me, not ‘kids’ per se, but college students whose area of expertise is not technical.
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