Alcohol Impact Area Map Series

The City of Tacoma created a series of maps that would allow managers and council members to see the changing patterns of public drunkenness. GIS was used to measure the effectiveness of the Alcohol Impact Area (AIA) program, show where the activity was, where it moved to, and the relative change between 2001 and 2006. After collecting data, incident patterns were not immediately apparent from dot maps of detailed incident locations. In addition, due to the sensitive nature of the data, a level of privacy needed to be upheld. With the aid of ArcGIS Spatial Analyst, hot-spot maps solved both of these problems. The AIA ordinance, prohibiting the sale of cheap, fortified, single containers of alcohol, reduced the total alcohol-related police calls by 19 percent. The reduction of police calls has resulted in improved neighborhoods for citizens and significant cost savings for the city. These hot-spot maps accomplished all of the tasks set out by the city and a new Alcohol Study Area was proposed.

Courtesy of the City of Tacoma Community and Economic Development Department.