Tuesday, October 20. 2009

UK Crime Map Launched to High Demand

Home Office minister David Hanson officially unveiled a map that offers "crime statistics on every street in England and Wales," only to have it crash soon after. The map is the next step in a process that included the launch of 43 regional maps earlier this year.

I was able to reach the site this morning; it offers this message: "Due to very high popularity users may experience temporary intermittent issues accessing this site. The issues are being worked on and will be resolved as soon as possible."

- Press Association

Posted by Adena Schutzberg in Crime at 06:30 | Comments (0) | Trackbacks (0) |

Tuesday, May 12. 2009

Contrasting GIS-based Crime Mapping vs. Google Maps Crime Mapping

San Bernardino County now offers an online crime mapping site built by the Omega Group, an ESRI business partner. In covering it in the Press-Enterprise, the reporter needed to contrast the offering with widely-known Google Maps-based mapping solutions.

With a $100,000 federal grant, the department will offer a crime map through its Web site, www.SBPDonline.org, customized to its specific district and patrol beat program. Residents can also search for reported crimes in a one-mile radius of any city park, school or hospital.

The crime mapping, offered through the Omega Group's "Community CrimeView" software, will eventually gather data going back as far as two years. Currently, users can search back to Jan. 1.

Community CrimeView differs from other agencies' offerings through the same company's "CrimeMapping.com" in that it uses the same maps San Bernardino police officers utilize for internal purposes, with an increased ability to generate neighborhood-specific reports.

CrimeMapping.com projects its basic crime reports onto Google Maps.

"We're giving you a lot more personal functionality and openness," said Michael Eckley, the department's public safety information technology manager.

Posted by Adena Schutzberg in Crime at 07:48 | Comments (4) | Trackbacks (0) |

Tuesday, February 3. 2009

Podcast: Three Paths to Open Source Geospatial

Open source is in the news again. This past week the US Dept. of Defence announced Forge.mil, an open source project repository akin to SourceForge. Last month President Obama tapped Sun co-founder Scott McNealy to prepare a document on open source and its potential role in government. But what of open source GIS? How is that corner of geospatial being funded and groomed for growth? We'll look at three paths that have lead to open source growth and their likelihood for success in the coming months and years.

Posted by Adena Schutzberg in Open Source, Directions on the News Podcast, Geospatial Business, Crime at 01:00 | Comments (3) | Trackbacks (0) |

Thursday, January 15. 2009

Update: All 43 Police Forces in England and Wales offer Online Crime Maps

Update: 1/15/09: The Guardian provides a link to the listing of the 43 forces (though not to the mapping page of each). In an article today it highlights how the maps are but a first step. Timely as I take crime maps in Directions today.

Posted by Adena Schutzberg in Crime at 06:00 | Comments (0) | Trackbacks (0) |

Washington State Legislators Propose Studying Implanted GPS for Sex Offenders

Since bracelets are not working the Washington State House of Representatives is considering a bill to study the cost and feasibility of implanting GPS devices in the worst offenders. Civil rights supporters are expected to advocate against the bill. Jerry Dobson's term "geoslavery" always creeped me out; so does contemplating this type of tracking.

- King5

Posted by Adena Schutzberg in Tracking, GPS, Crime at 06:00 | Comments (0) | Trackbacks (0) |

Monday, January 5. 2009

DC Gov Drops Daily Crime E-mail, Users Unhappy with alternative, a Map

The daily crime e-mail had been sent out by the D.C. police to the public via e-mail. It included all crimes in each of the department's districts, broken down by Police Service Area. The e-mails have been dropped per Assistant Police Chief Diane Groomes because they often included information that may have jeopardized police work. Instead, the DC police offer a map built on the acclaimed DC Atlas.

That app is quite complex, allowing search near an address, searching on a specific crime, etc. GIS may love it but some, like the Georgetown Metropolitan Blog (GMT) finds it wanting compared to the sleek text listing. (Full review from the blog including what are suggested as better alternatives: below is a summary.)

...it’s terrible. It’s based on inferior mapping software, it’s difficult to use, and it doesn’t allow you to actually find out any information on each crime. For crime maps, there are better options out there. But a crime map is not a satisfactory replacement for a daily list. MPD has offered the crime map for years, why does it all of the sudden think that it’s a better option than daily blotters?

Posted by Adena Schutzberg in Crime at 06:25 | Comments (2) | Trackbacks (0) |