Springfield, IL – The Illinois State Police (ISP) has unveiled an interactive Statewide Expressway Shooting (SES) dashboard which contains current and historical data regarding reported expressway shooting incidents on all expressways in Illinois. The ISP created this tool to provide not only data but also as context to expressway shootings reported in Illinois.

One of the main goals of the SES dashboard is to be timely and transparent by displaying the latest reported expressway shooting information. The (SES) dashboard will display specific data relating to each reported expressway shooting located throughout the state.

The SES dashboard displays the number of reported expressway shootings from 2019 through 2022 (YTD). The Current YTD number of reported expressway shootings are also compared to the previous YTD number of reported expressway shootings. The SES dashboard will also include information concerning the location, date and time, specific Illinois Highway System, and whether there was a reported injury or death.

There are three drop-down menus located on the top right corner of the interactive SES dashboard indicating the Year, specific Roadway of occurrence, and Day of the Week; once selected, will display the results for your specific inquiry on the main map. Next, there are three tabs located on bottom left hand corner of the SES dashboard, which depending on which one is selected, will display a pie chart with the Day of Week, Death, or Injuries percentage of the total number of reported expressway shootings for the time frame selected. Lastly, the two tabs located near the bottom center area of the SES dashboard, will display a bar graph indicating either the reported expressway Shootings by Roadway or the reported expressway Shootings by Month/Year.

"We want to provide this information to the general public, community stakeholders, our traffic safety partners, other first responders, and our law enforcement partners to assure them that we are committed to our mission of ensuring public safety on our expressway systems,” said ISP Director Brendan F. Kelly. “Knowing when and where these violent crimes are being committed, provides us with another tool to combating these violent and senseless crimes.” 

[Credit: Illinois State Police]​

ST. LOUIS – Seiler Instrument & Mfg. Co., Inc. has acquired the assets of Precision Midwest to provide Trimble Geospatial products and solutions for the state of Iowa, all of Northern Illinois, and the northwest counties of Lake and Porter, Indiana. The asset purchase of Precision Midwest located in Plainfield, Illinois, will add to the existing Midwest presence of Seiler Geospatial as a leader in Survey, GPS, Robotics, LiDAR, Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAV), and software solutions. 
 
Seiler Instrument’s corporate office headquarters is in St. Louis and has geospatial offices to serve its clients in Indiana, Kansas, Michigan, Nebraska, and Wisconsin. 
 
Executive vice president Tom Seiler said, “We will soon have a new office located in Northern Illinois. We are grateful for the opportunity to continue growing the Seiler Geospatial team in Northern Illinois and Iowa leveraging our deep Trimble survey and mapping/GIS domain knowledge. Providing excellence in solutions and services is what our customers and organizations deserve and expect. Our goal is to be more than just a vendor; our goal is to be our customers most trusted and valued partner in helping grow their business.”
 
“I believe in being a trusted ally to our clients and providing them the best equipment and services to maximize their efficiency and productivity. I am excited to carry on this level of commitment and service to our clients as part of the Seiler Geospatial team,” said Todd Sleezer, strategic accounts manager, geospatial sales, Seiler Geospatial.
 
Seiler Instrument is an Authorized Trimble Distribution reseller of hardware and software since 1988, and a 30-year partner for Autodesk as a Gold Partner Reseller. Seiler operates a nationally recognized service and repair facility in Saint Louis, Missouri, and has four other service repair centers across the Midwest along with a new service repair center in Northern Illinois coming soon.

About Seiler Instrument
Seiler Instrument & Mfg. Co., Inc. is a fourth-generation, family-owned business established in 1945. Our family firm is dedicated to excellence in optical instrument design, manufacturing and service. Seiler Instrument is comprised of manufacturing, geospatial, design solutions, medical, and planetarium divisions. The Seiler Geospatial team is an authorized distribution partner for Trimble Geospatial and Spectra Precision, which provides solutions for surveyors, engineering, GIS/Mapping, construction, service companies, governments, utilities, and transportation authorities. Seiler Design Solutions is an Autodesk Gold Partner and also a UAV Drone distributor for DJI, Quantum, and Microdrones under Seiler GeoDrones®.  Please contact us at:  www.seilergeo.com to learn more.

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For more information:
Seiler Instrument & Mfg. Co., Inc.
3433 Tree Court Ind. Blvd
St. Louis, MO 63122
 
Mark Jeffrey
Email:  mjeffrey@seilerinst.com
Mobile:  1-314-330-2315

[Credit: Seiler Instrument]

The Town of Normal launched an online Open Data Portal on its website, making the Town’s data and information more transparent and relevant to residents through dashboards, interactive charts and maps. 
 The goal of the Open Data Portal is to make data commonly collected by the Town more reliable and accessible through searchable tools and easy-to-understand visuals. Currently, the portal provides links to:
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• Budget- and finance-related data, including the Community Investment Plan, Budget, Transaction Log, Payroll, Cash Receipts and Fixed Assets.
• Building Permits and Business Licenses
• Normal Police Department Daily Log
• Various GIS data and maps (e.g., My Public Services, Zoning and Historic Districts)

 
“The Town of Normal collects an enormous amount of data which hasn’t always been easy to access,” says City Manager Pamela Reece. “We want people to understand the work the Town is doing, and this user-friendly portal creates an easy way to share data and information.”

 Some data has been accessible for a while, but access has been scattered across different parts of the Town’s website. The Open Data Portal pulls these resources together into an easy-to-use, online resource. The portal uses interactive dashboards to present the most-requested data sets in user-friendly formats such as: Monthly Financial Reports, Permits Issued and a Daily Log for police activity. 

 “We’ve created searchable databases for the most commonly requested information,” explains Vasudha Gadhiraju, director of Innovations & Technology (I&T). “We will continue adding information to the portal. We want to ensure data shared is helpfully formatted (i.e., machine-readable) so students, researchers and interested members of the community can easily review it to gain additional insights.”

 The Town plans to add additional data sets to the Open Data Portal soon, including Council Action Reports and additional Crime Data.

 The portal provides users with an easier way to search and digest information. The launch of this online resource is one example of how the Town of Normal is working to incorporate Smart City thinking into all aspects of its operations, a goal identified in the Town’s 2040 Comprehensive Plan. 

 “This effort is yet another example of a smart city project which uses the power of data and technology to create more transparency and efficiency,” adds Gadhiraju. 

Bloomington-Normal Innovation Alliance 
 The Bloomington-Normal Innovation Alliance, a framework of collaboration to drive efficiency and innovation in the community, will benefit from the more easily accessible data provided through the Town of Normal Open Data Portal. 

 “The Town of Normal is a proud member of the Alliance,” adds Reece. “This initiative aims to connect community data to research and educational projects. Currently, a lot of staff time is spent responding to requests for information. Making data searchable and easier to access through self-service options like the portal helps others more easily find the data they seek, ultimately saving taxpayer money.”

 About the Bloomington-Normal Innovation Alliance: The Alliance’s mission is to empower the Bloomington-Normal region to embrace innovation, bolstering local economies with smart development and policies rooted in connectivity, mobility, equity and sustainability. This effort is a collaboration among Heartland Community College, Illinois Wesleyan and Illinois State Universities, McLean County, the City of Bloomington, the Town of Normal, the Economic Development Council and the McLean County Chamber of Commerce.

[Credit: Town of Normal]