Urban 3D GIS Modeling of Terrorism Sniper Hazards

Abstract

This study explores the prevention of terrorism using three-dimensional (3D) analysis for the protection of populations in urban environments. Terrorism and crime prevention has become a popular exercise using the spatial tools available with geographic information systems (GISs). Thus far, most approaches have considered two-dimensional (2D) applications focusing primarily on hot spot identification or mapping trends in a geographic region. Sniper rifle fire modeling is examined in 3D modeling within a GIS environment. The primary methodology is tested using the concept of a viewshed and line of sight (LoS). To test the model, the Gerald R. Ford Funeral in Grand Rapids, Michigan, is used to examine the protection of individuals from sniper fire. It is found that using viewsheds has good potential to aid protection agents responsible for protecting individuals and populations.

Applications of 3D City Models: State of the Art Review

“…For instance, they are used in estimating the visibility of a landmark [182,183], assessing façade visibility for city marketing [184,185], in determining the optimal location for surveillance cameras [186][187][188], sensor coverage assessment [189], improving road safety [190], assessing sniper hazards [191], and in real estate mass valuation in the urban areas, based on the assumption that the view from an apartment is one of the factors driving its price [192][193][194]. Further applications involve predicting the visibility of GNSS satellites in the built environment and mitigating the multipath effect [195][196][197][198][199][200][201][202][203][204].…”

Economic effects of terrorism: Local and city considerations, priorities for research and policy

“…These can complement research, largely at the intersection of hazard management and regional economics, which uses input–output models to simulate the impact of a terrorist attack (Cheng, Stough, & Kocornik‐Mina, ). While GIS mapping and analysis is not new, it has been increasingly used to study terrorism, focused on questions like the risks and dynamics of terrorism (see Bahgat & Medina, ; Beck, ; Medina, Siebeneck, & Hepner, ; Van Horn & Mosurinjohn, ), but there is still significant unexplored application in the impact (economic or otherwise) of terrorism. GIS mapping and analysis can enable scholars to focus deeply on small spatial units (and ideally compare them across higher levels of aggregation—e.g., neighborhoods in cities, across countries).…”

Increasing the Usability of Pedestrian Navigation Interfaces by means of Landmark Visibility Analysis

“…For example, although it is possible to add 3D features to the virtual environment in current GIS tools, visibility analysis is still performed solely on the 2·5D surface raster (e.g. Putra, 2008; Vanhorn and Mosurinjohn, 2010). 2·5D models, such as Digital Surface Models (DSM), are an extension of 2D representations by an additional attribute for the elevation, while in 3D models, elevation is the third dimension of every point in 3D space and thus part of the spatial structure.…”