Document Title:

Bringing Geography to the Practice of Analyzing

Crime Through Technology

Author(s):

Ronald Wilson and Timothy Brown

Document No.:

230757

Date Received:

June 2010

This report has not been published by the U.S. Department of Justice.
To provide better customer service, NCJRS has made this National
Institute of Justice (NIJ) produced report available electronically in
addition to traditional paper copies.

Opinions or points of view expressed are those

of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect
the official position or policies of the U.S.
Department of Justice.

This report has not been published by the U.S. Department of Justice. Opinions or points of view expressed are
those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the official position or policies of the U.S. Department of Justice.

Bringing Geography to the Practice of Analyzing Crime

Through Technology
by Ronald Wilson and Timothy Brown

June 2010
NCJ 230757

Discussion Paper

This report has not been published by the U.S. Department of Justice. Opinions or points of view expressed are
those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the official position or policies of the U.S. Department of Justice.

BringingGeographytothePracticeofAnalyzing
CrimeThroughTechnology

byRonaldWilsonandTimothyBrown

June2010

NCJ230757

Theopinionsandconclusionsexpressedinthisdocumentaresolelythoseoftheauthorsanddo
notnecessarilyreflecttheviewsoftheU.S.DepartmentofJustice.

This report has not been published by the U.S. Department of Justice. Opinions or points of view expressed are
those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the official position or policies of the U.S. Department of Justice.

Mapping, Spatial Analysis and Geography at the National Institute of Justice

In 1997, the National Institute of Justice (NIJ) established the Crime Mapping Research
Center (CMRC) using funds for technology assistance from the fiscal year (FY) 1996
Appropriations Act. CMRC was established under the Institutes behavioral sciences
division, the Office of Research and Evaluation (ORE). The centers primary focus was
on using geographic information systems to visualize crime data and understand spatial
patterns of criminal activity. Its target constituency was and is state and local law
enforcement and other criminal justice organizations.
In 2002, NIJ transformed CMRC into the Mapping and Analysis for Public Safety
(MAPS) program. The MAPS program works toward integrating spatial statistics into the
measurement of geographic crime patterns. When the program was expanded into NIJs
Office of Science and Technology (OST), it began to examine emerging technologies
(beyond software) that would be key tools in the study of crime.
With mature visualization and statistical techniques for analyzing geographic data, the
MAPS program now works to promote the integration of geographic theories and
principles into the study of crime. This involves intramural research within the program
and grant funding of proposed projects from the field. This combination of research,
practice and technology facilitates the crafting of significant public policy that best
addresses the most pressing crime and public safety problems.
Analysis solely from statistics and modeling is simply not enough to inform policy.
Spatial analysis and mapping must be based in geography in order to craft public policy,
because policy requires answers based on sound fundamentals. For instance, Stephen
Hall wrote in 1994 that society is currently reconsidering how to use space to understand
a variety of problems (Hall, 1994). The primary tool in Halls book is computerized
mapping.
As a contribution to this way of looking at geographic space, this paper examines how
NIJs grant-funded research is integrating geography and technology to alleviate
pervasive crime.
Defining Crime Mapping
Much of what the MAPS program does is referred to as crime mapping. This is in
many ways an inaccurate term, because crime mapping involves much more than simply
plotting crime locations in space. Crime mapping is usually coupled with the use of a
geographic information system (GIS). A GIS is a tool for visualizing and manipulating
geographic data that is used to prepare data for statistical analysis and to display the
output from analysis. Although some GISs include spatial analysis tools, their analysis is
confined to locating and examining geographic objects as they relate to one another in
space. Spatial data analysis combines spatial analysis with associated attribute data of the
objects being analyzed. GIS can be used to create the spatial structures for this analysis in

This report has not been published by the U.S. Department of Justice. Opinions or points of view expressed are
those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the official position or policies of the U.S. Department of Justice.

more complex modeling. Crime mapping, then, can apply any one of these approaches to
the analysis of geographic data.
Current Use of Spatial Analysis in the Study of Crime
Over the past three decades, the lack of adequate software has kept other social sciences
from using geographic analysis principles (Dobson, 1983, 1993; Goodchild, 2006;
Griffith, 1990). As technology has advanced, this trend has slowly begun to change. The
turning point was the creation of software that allowed law enforcement to study the
spatial aspects of crime. Advances in computational speed and the development of
integrated development environments that make software writing more efficient have
produced what Dobson (1983) called the automation of geography.
Software has become a primary scientific instrument for understanding and solving
societys problems (Wilson, 2007). This is because software has become a mechanism for
expressing scientific thought and creating models of the world. GIS software is currently
a dominant tool for analyzing crime data, particularly in law enforcement agencies.
Figure 1 shows how, in the past decade, many different social science disciplines,
including criminology, have been influenced by the use of GIS and spatial analysis
software. Specifically, it provides the percentage of articles in each social science
discipline that use some form of mapping or spatial analysis and that have been published
from 1996 to 2008. 1 As illustrated, the use of mapping and spatial analysis in the social
sciences is rising. 2 In criminology, improved tools have allowed social scientists to
directly address the need to understand the spatial aspects of crime.
Figure 1. Percentage of Social Science Articles Using Mapping or Spatial Analysis, by
Discipline, 1996-2008
0.14
PublicPolicy

0.12
Demographics

0.1

Percent

Economics

0.08

Criminology
PublicHealth

0.06
PoliticalScience

0.04
0.02

0
1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008
Year

This report has not been published by the U.S. Department of Justice. Opinions or points of view expressed are
those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the official position or policies of the U.S. Department of Justice.

Source: Sociological Abstracts, Applied Social Sciences Index and Abstracts, and Social
Service Abstracts.
Technology and its use are often responsible for social change, regardless of whether the
change is expected or not. The impact of geographic technologies on crime analysis has
bigger implications. Advancements in geospatial technologies have led to large changes
in law enforcement strategies. As a result of these technological developments, there has
been a recent shift toward more geographically focused policing practices. Hot spots
policing 3 is one geographically focused policing strategy that is being adopted in the law
enforcement community.
The MAPS program has contributed to technological research and development by
funding the CrimeStat III spatial statistics software packages, which are essential to hot
spots policing. 4 This software incorporates a range of spatial statistical tools that allow
descriptive and advanced modeling techniques. CrimeStat III is commonly used by law
enforcement to identify hot spots. Hot spots policing has grown dramatically over the
years to become one of law enforcements main tools for allocating resources and direct
patrols. Its popularity may be due to advances in software technology that have
automated geography for practical purposes.
Overall, the analysis of crime has been greatly affected by the advances made in GIS and
other spatial analysis technologies. Continued development of geospatial technologies
has led to improvements in crime analysis. The effective combination of criminological
theory and geographic analysis principles has allowed the field to gain prominence and
acceptance.
Grant-Funded Research From the MAPS Program
Over the past few years, the MAPS program has funded several geospatial technology
research projects with the goal of advancing the collection and geographical analysis of
crime data. The range of these projects spans from simple to advanced. Twelve
technology projects related to geospatial analysis have been funded under the MAPS
Program. These software-driven grant projects have resulted in advanced data collection
and analysis technologies. A few of these grants are described below:

Semiautomated 3D Geocoding of Large Urban Structures (#2007-DE-BX-K010)

University of North Carolina, Charlotte. This project focuses on developing
visual analytic tools for emergency responders in large urban indoor environments.
The research consists of two parts:
o Semiautomated processing of 2D building computer-assisted design (CAD)
files to produce a 3D building network.
o A server/client-based architecture for communication between responders in
the field and a central command post.

This report has not been published by the U.S. Department of Justice. Opinions or points of view expressed are
those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the official position or policies of the U.S. Department of Justice.

Flexible Geospatial Visual Analytics and Simulation Technologies to Enhance

Criminal Justice Decision Support Systems (#2009-SQ-B9-K101) Arizona
State University. This research project will develop a methodology to integrate new
techniques for geospatial visual analytics and spatial econometrics with state-of-theart geocomputation technologies. This integration will yield the basis for an enhanced
decision-support system for criminal justice interventions. In addition, the research
will yield an open-source and cross-platform modular software toolbox that will be
available through a number of user interfaces.

Urban Crime Simulator (#2007-IJ-CX-K014) South Carolina Research

Authority/Kent State University. Based on routine activities theory, deviant places
theory and neighborhood life-cycle concepts, an urban crime simulator was
developed. This tool estimates changes in crime rates in urban neighborhoods based
on known or projected changes in neighborhood characteristics. The simulator can
use GIS-formatted data and operational environment. The MAPS program is jointly
participating in this research with the grantees.

Smart Police Deployment: Evaluation of the Use of Automated Vehicle Locator

Technologies in Policing (#2007IJCXK153) The Police Foundation. This
study examines the reliability and usefulness of automated vehicle locator (AVL)
technology to quantify police presence. The study examines the impact of police
presence on crime in specific geographic areas in Dallas. More important, it tests
whether AVL technology can be an effective tool for deploying officers. This project
will advance information-led policing nationwide by providing a technology-based
strategy for crime prevention and reduction.

These grants represent both current and future directions of NIJs geospatial technologies
portfolio. For a full description of all research projects in the MAPS program, see:
http://www.ojp.usdoj.gov/nij/maps/projects.htm.
Future Directions
To date, spatial analysis has been employed through the use of software. This is primarily
because GIS has provided useful solutions to some of the most immediate problems law
enforcement must address. But software can only go so far. Research must integrate other
technologies that collect or create geographic information and use them to analyze
geographic events that are not easily reported or otherwise observed. It must employ
technologies that capture ground truths more objectively than traditional means of
capturing social science data (e.g., observation). These technologies can be more direct
and unbiased in recording events than such traditional methods because value judgments
affect their programming only, not their data collection.
In particular, employing sensor technologies is a priority for the MAPS program.
Positioning technology already uses sensor technologies to track human travel behavior.
Acoustic technologies are being used to capture sounds associated with human activities,
and spatial cognition technologies are being employed to understand how people make
5

This report has not been published by the U.S. Department of Justice. Opinions or points of view expressed are
those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the official position or policies of the U.S. Department of Justice.

spatial decisions. Each of these has applications in understanding both general patterns of
criminal behavior and individual crimes. More important, these technologies can capture
geographic data that traditional means of data capture cannot. Specifically, they capture
the subtleties of incidents, actions and factors that help form the four families of
geographic theories. 5
Funding research in these areas will continue to expand the field of crime mapping and
analysis. The main focus of new research will be developing cutting-edge geospatial
software, but there is also increased interest in geospatial sensor technologies, spatial
cognition technologies, and location-based technologies and analysis.
The impact of many software applications and technologies is not yet known. Many
claims are made about the use of geospatial software applications and technologies that
reduce crime, deploy law enforcement resources more efficiently, and lighten agency
workloads. Many of these claims have not been substantiated in any meaningful and
scientific way. The MAPS Program will continue to advance geospatial technologies by
developing solicitations for research, development, testing and evaluation, These MAPSfunded projects will help measure geographys contribution to targeting crime.
References
Dobson, J.E. Automated geography. The Professional Geographer, 35 (2) (1983): 135143.
Dobson, J.E. A rationale for the National Center for Geographic Information and
Analysis. The Professional Geographer 45 (2) (1993): 207-215.
Goodchild, M.F. Communicating geographic information in a digital age. Annals of the
Association of American Geographers 90 (2) (2006): 344-355.
Griffith, D.A. Supercomputing and spatial statistics: A reconnaissance. The Professional
Geographer 42 (4) (1990): 481-492.
Hall, S.H. Mapping the Next Millennium. New York: Random House Value Publishing,
1994.
Wilson, R.E..The impact of software on crime mapping: An introduction to a special
journal issue of Social Science Computing Review on crime mapping. Social Science
Computing Review 25 (2) (2007): 1-8.

Notes
1. The search was conducted using the following keywords: spatial, mapping,
geographic information systems, GIS, hot spots and crime mapping. The last two
6

This report has not been published by the U.S. Department of Justice. Opinions or points of view expressed are
those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the official position or policies of the U.S. Department of Justice.

keywords were used in an attempt to maximize the number of hits for criminology related
articles and to select mapping articles that used the term mapping but would not have
been picked up otherwise. The three databases searched included Sociological Abstracts,
Applied Social Sciences Index and Abstracts and Social Services Abstracts.
2. The keyword geography was purposely left out of the search because the percentage
of articles that would have appeared was so high that it would have made the other trends
indistinguishable.
3 .Hot spots policing uses mapping software to identify locations with clusters of crime
(called hot spots) on a map and sends patrols to target these locations.
4. CrimeStat was developed by Ned Levine and Associates through grant funding by NIJ
under grant numbers 1997-IJ-CX-0040, 1999-IJ-CX-0044, 2002-IJ-CX-0007, and 2005IJ-CX-K037.
5

The four families of geographic theories are spatial dependence, heterogeneity,

organization and interaction.

This report has not been published by the U.S. Department of Justice. Opinions or points of view expressed are
those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the official position or policies of the U.S. Department of Justice.