Epidemic Location Intelligence System as Response to the COVID-19 Outbreak in Bosnia and Herzegovina

Optimizing Police Facility Locations Based on Cluster Analysis and the Maximal Covering Location Problem

Planning and defining places for the installation of police facilities are fundamental to improving the public security service in the urban space. Geographic Information Systems connecting the spatial distribution of police occurrences, budgetary restrictions, and the maximum distance covered are state-of-the-art innovations addressing the need for preventive and responsive police management. The present work proposes a management information system to support the analysis and suggestion of potential police facility locations. The management information system is modeled using k-means for cluster analysis and the definition of candidate locations, and the maximal covering location problem is used to optimize the predefined locations. The proposed system allows the analysis of alternative locations and their impacts on public security. The application in Brazil demonstrates that it is possible to obtain an additional 22% gain in the coverage area of occurrences and an additional reduction of 920 m in terms of the average distance covered when comparing the management information system’s suggested locations to the current configuration. Thus, our assessment provides an efficient tool for supporting decisions regarding the location of police facilities and helps improve the public security service.

Systems and Industries in Response to COVID-19 Crisis: Closing Remarks

Many industries and systems have faced consequences as a result of the COVID-19 outbreak. In this time, we are happy to had the publication of a Special Issue of Applied System Innovation titled “Systems and Industries in Response to the COVID-19 Crisis”. This editorial article contains the special issue’s closing remarks. However, while the scope of this given special issue grabbed the interest of practitioners and scholars, there is still much to be learned from COVID-19’s experience. Thus, suggestions for future special issues are included with this letter.