CIT 2341 - Introduction to Crime Mapping Study Notes

CIT 2341 - Introduction to Crime Mapping

Key Concepts of Crime and Crime Mapping

  • Definition of Crime: Breach of criminal law defined by a geographical area; encompasses four dimensions: legal, victim, offender, and spatial.
  • Definition of Mapping: Representation of geographic data; includes crime and demographic data used for various purposes like navigation and policing.

Crime Mapping Overview

  • Utilizes spatial technology to analyze crime patterns.
  • Answers critical questions about crime location and resource allocation.
  • Goals: identify trends, allocate resources, predictive policing, evidence-based decision making, and improve safety.
  • Process involves data collection, cleaning, analysis, visualization, dissemination, and monitoring.

History of Crime Mapping

  • Example: John Snow's cholera mapping in 1854 demonstrated early use of data visualization in mapping public health issues.

Geographic Information Systems (GIS)

  • Definition: A set of tools for capturing, storing, analyzing, and displaying spatial data.
  • Purpose: Contains data, maps, and analysis tools for geographic problem-solving.
  • Distinction from Other Systems: Differs from database management systems and CAD by explicitly incorporating geographic analysis.

GIS Applications in Policing

  • Assists law enforcement in analyzing crime data and visualizing crime incidents.
  • Facilitates resource deployment to crime hotspots.
  • Supports functions like incident response and criminal network analysis.
  • Combines multiple data sources for a holistic view of criminal activity and evidence-based policing strategies.

GIS and Cybersecurity

  • Applications:
    • Mapping geographical distribution of cyber attacks.
    • Analyzing IP addresses and user patterns.
    • Visualizing networks and tracking cybercrime origins.