App Idea - Push notification when user enters high-crime area

[Kevin N Smith]

I just got an idea for an app which would alert users when they enter into an area with a high crime rate. It would work by sending a push notification. I am writing this thread to simply "feel the market" on this idea and see who may use this and get input on implementation if enough people want this developed.

- Kevin,
Atmosphere Weather Dev

 

[OwenDL]

This certainly seems like an interesting idea. Out of curiosity, how would data about areas be gathered? Would it get information from new sources, or users submitting statistics?

But I think it could be quite handy for people living in say, Chicago or other places where you might want to keep an extra eye out. Another question, say someone lives in an apartment complex, and they've had say something stolen from their car and/or someone steal their bike from the bike rack, would that count or would it be for other situations?

 

[Kevin N Smith]

@Owen

I would use public arrest/crime data tied together with data from users and "Area Contributors", which will be locals paid a small amount to find and report crime across a city. In order to keep the data accurate and troll-proof, it would be cross-checked with police arrest data and crime statistics once entered. Users would also have to enter some kind of proof the event actually happened (A picture, police report, etc). This crime report would be marked as pending and would then be approved or denied by an admin - in order to keep racist, invalid, or generally irrelevant reports out of the database. Note that area contributor reports would be instantly approved. I may remove or add some of the user barriers to entry at a later time.

As for your example, a bike stolen or car broken into would probably be put down as a low-profile report and wouldn't really affect the area's safety rating unless it happened often. I want to ensure that average neighborhoods aren't marked as high-crime simply due to a few petty thefts, however areas prone to theft would absolutely be marked as such.

Remember that the app is still in it's planning stages and still could be cancelled altogether or some features could change.

 

[Nabkawe5]

You can already kind of do this if you know certain shops around those areas by telling Cortana to remind you to be safe when I'm near (24/7 mart JUST AN EXAMPLE).

 

[wasim sallam]

should be a native feature by Microsoft.
they will be able to collect more data about crimes or like that.
really a great idea

 

[btbam91]

I love the idea!

 

[HoosierDaddy]

Then make a game-like app for criminals to hunt users of the first app. Might make more money off that one.

 

[Kevin N Smith]

@Hoosier
Lol, I could take commissions per identity stolen...
/endbadidea

 

[TheMightyCraken]

Hey Kevin, are you still gonna work on a News Reader? (Your apps are excellent quality)

 

[herbertsnow]

You can call it the Scared White app

 

[Kevin N Smith]

Hey Kevin, are you still gonna work on a News Reader? (Your apps are excellent quality)

Yes I am. I'm actually working on a number of projects ranging from Atmosphere ports to web and other mobile platforms, "Lifeline" (A project which will be merged with this one), this app, a newsreader, and other things including a secret project about car HUDs.

Obviously, with expansion at this level, some projects are being done by paid freelancers/etc. This does not affect quality.

The car project will be announced and be released first, followed by Atmosphere on the Web and the newsreader across late 2014 to early 2015.

 

[Kevin N Smith]

You can call it the Scared White app

No.

 

[foxbat121]

should be a native feature by Microsoft.
they will be able to collect more data about crimes or like that.
really a great idea

Bing Maps on PC already did that a few years back when plan a route to avoid rough neighborhood and it was on news everywhere. MS lawyers probably quickly put a lid on it for Political Correctiveness.

 

[putuyoga]

good idea !! it can be my research topic lol

 

[stonetipapps]

Seems like someone could get mugged while looking at the notifications. Better to be heads up and aware.

 

[holymoo]

You could start making a proof of concept app where you would be able to do it for say one city. Philadelphia for instance has an api where you can pull down crime rates.

 

[ColorRingStudio]

Good idea! The accuracy of data is important.

 

[barbaram]

I think something like this was just in the news, but they called it a sketchy neighborhood notification. The PC police went all crazy, as though minority folks don't worry about their safety as much as anyone.

 

[davidofmidnight]

someone's starting something like that: App maps Seattle's 'high-crime' areas | KREM.com Spokane probably for ios, though.

 

[Kevin N Smith]

I think something like this was just in the news, but they called it a sketchy neighborhood notification. The PC police went all crazy, as though minority folks don't worry about their safety as much as anyone.

Annoys me that they thought it was racist. Most ironic thing I have ever heard being that THEY must be the racist ones in order to associate public crime data with minorities.