Crime modeling and mapping using geospatial technologies

摘要

As I began reading this collection of papers, I found myself drawn back in time to my first exposure to crime mapping and spatial statistics. It was 20 years ago during a doctoral seminar taught by Robert Langworthy at the University of Cincinnati. Our readings for the class were drawn largely from a series of conference papers presented at a meeting held by the Illinois Criminal Justice Information Authority (ICJIA) that would eventually become the PERF publication, Crime Analysis Through Computer Mapping, edited by Becky Block and her colleagues at the ICJIA (Block, Dabdoub, and Fregly 1995). The collection of readings that emerged from the conference described the cutting edge of computerized crime mapping and analysis at the time and served as a fantastic addition to my cohort's training in methods and statistics. Also, from a personal perspective, this class would substantially impact my entire career trajectory. To put the time frame further into perspective, I would be remiss not to mention that other substantial course requirements were to learn Maplnfo and STAC. Desktop GIS and spatial analyses were in their infancy, and tools for complex crime modeling were rare.