4 replies to this topic

[ELeFevre]

Last night I was reading on article on various mapping techniques used by criminal analysts. Ever since the BTK serial killer case broke two weeks ago, I've been captivated by the whole process of solving crimes. Naturally, I started thinking about the application of geographic data and maps. Has anyone on this board ever had the opportunity to work on an investigative project as a geographic crime analyst? or know anyone who has?

[Nick Springer]

I don't know anybody, but I do know that almost every major metropolitan police department now uses some kind of GIS to analyze crime patterns and help target enforcement efforts.

You could start by trying to contact the nearest large police department.

I'm sure the FBI is a large staff in this area as well.

[ELeFevre]

I think working as a crime analyst has a nice ring to it...but that's about it. In reality I bet it gets pretty old mapping out the distribution of 911 calls, stolen stereos, bikes, et ceteras...

I've been watching to many detective programs lately.

[Hans van der Maarel]

Didn't ESRI do some publications on this subject? Crime analisys maps are frequently shown in the ESRI Map books.

[frax]

There was an American TV show that was created in partnership with ESRI a couple of years ago, I think they were supposed to bring out ArcView in every show to analyze the situation. I think it was called "the District" -- I never caught it, but I read about in ArcNews or ArcUser.

There was also a big display in the map gallery at the ESRI UC, I think two years ago.

Found a page on the ESRI website

There was also a discussion about this on the GeoWanking mailing list, there are both US cities making these things more accessible, as well as entrepreneurs (with public data):

• Portland Crime Mapper
• ChicagoCrime.org (this one is using google maps in some clever way)