CHENNAI: The city corporation is now using a digital data collection tool to identify and map sections of the city that lack enough street lights as part of its drive to make the city safe.
Mobile apps that enable crowdsourcing and data collection using image processing to determine whether certain parts of the street are safe for women based on nine parameters that include adequate lighting, walkways, availability of public transport, safety, visibility, openness and gender usage, used for this purpose.
The apps are created by Safetipin, an organization that works with governments to ensure public spaces are safe and inclusive for women, and the data is shared with the city corporation for action. “Some of our data is crowd-sourced and we also collect data through images, based on which we make recommendations to the city corporation or point out issues,” said Kalpana Viswanath, CEO of Safetipin.
In a women’s safety audit carried out by the organization in Tondiarpet last year, where it audited public places, including those near schools and colleges, the audit found that 60% of the mapped areas were well manned, that 85 % public transport within reach and that 91% had adequate street lighting. But the area was lacking in terms of footpaths and walkability.
For now, the civic body has identified dangerous stretches in Semmencherry and Tondiarpet. The Corporation’s Gender Lab has also conducted a survey of the parks and is collecting data to determine whether they are safe for women.