Masters research by Brayton Grinnell at St. Mary's University in Winona, MN "found that more than a third of vandalism incidents — 38.7 percent — happened within a block or two of bars." He plotted vandalism in town between 2001 and 2006 using GIS. Perhaps more interesting, the local paper (Winona Daily News) provides links to his presentation and final paper. That's a great choice for the paper and a good reminder of the draw of local news.

Another student, this one in Northern Ireland focused locally and has won the 'Geo-Mashup' competition for students run by the Department of Finance and Personnel in conjunction with the Ordnance Survey of Northern Ireland. Aidan Higgins, Master's student in GIS at the University of Ulster's School of Environmental Sciences, mashed up road collision data from the Police Service of Northern Ireland with the road network of Northern Ireland to highlight the most dangerous areas due to black ice on roads. The submission's were judged on their benefit the public and be potentially marketability. In return Mr. Higgins received a laptop and a week of consulting with 1Spatial to develop his idea, per a press release.

The Austin American-Stateman has a scary title to its map-focused article, "How deadly is your ZIP code?" It discusses and shows maps that show the disparity in deaths from different diseases and connects that to the distribution of poor and minority groups. The good news: the maps can help direct services to areas in need.