For the past whole year, if there’s one thing that’s been grabbing the headlines with sickening regularity, it’s crime against women. As rape and murder have become the stuff of everyday preoccupation, you wouldn’t think to say something as seemingly frivolous as “there’s an app for that”. But, of course, there are several.

As women’s safety took center stage, many apps sprung up to address — or some would say leverage — what was happening. Some of these are about pressing the panic button and sending alerts for help, while a person still has her mobile phone in hand. I’ve tried some of these and the alerts do work. Of these, there’s one app that caught my attention because I really like the thinking it’s based on. I think that the principles behind this app — called SafetiPin — should work, not just for similar apps, but for other solutions being explored for women safety.

SafetiPin is named for the fact that you pin something on a map. That could be the existence of a hazard, the presence of harassment, or any other problem or something like the lack of transport in that spot, or the fact that it’s a lonely and unseen spot. That brings me to the first thing I like about SafetiPin — the fact that it’s used an existing thing (maps) with a timely and new approach.

When you have a map, you can define what the app calls your “circles of interest” which is whatever geographical area is relevant to you. That could be a neighbourhood, workplace, college or even just anywhere you go often or otherwise notice. When you put up a pin for a place, anyone who shares your circle of interest could also do so or see it. You can also put up comments on a wall, much as if it were a Facebook for safety. Let’s say you find an area around your house that’s particularly badly lit. You pin this on the map. Anyone living close by could then share comments and it could lead to meeting or an exchange where you decide together on taking action of some kind to get the problem fixed. And that’s the other thing I like about this app: it puts the action into the hands of those to whom the safety issue matters most. It’s up to people to use this to develop a community, a support system, or at least increased awareness.

SafetiPin also involves user audits on nine parameters, some which I’ve already mentioned. One of the cofounders of this app, Ashish Basu, is a strong believer in quantification and the fact that SafetiPin asks users to rate, if they like, the safety level of a place, or use an icon to indicate their level of comfort or discomfort with a spot in their circle of interest, can be used to generate data that can then be the basis of action that makes a place safer. The app also allows for information on essentials like 24-hour pharmacies, hospitals etc., to be included. There’s also a most useful directory in the app with numbers and addresses of essential services. Because the app is map-based, you can also get immediate directions.

Crowdsourced information is as authentic as it can get and SafetiPin founders plan to relay data to the government and public services authorities to push for action. Resident associations and NGOs can also use the data generated from audits and pins for improvement. Areas on the map amass pins in three colours — green for safe, amber for not safe enough and red for unsafe — the percentage of each along with ratings will gradually begin to count for or against an area in many ways including, for example, the sale value of properties. As the app comes out of its test phase and acquires users who see and share the ideas behind this effort, the numbers will start making a difference. Kalpana Viswanath, also the founder of SafetiPin, has a background in research on women’s safety issues and she’s been involved in many initiatives that no doubt bring a special understanding in creating this app. It also has the backing of UK AID and the Ford Foundation. The app itself could do with a better interface and many improvements but for a start there’s a whole lot of positive thinking built right in.