Oakland Crimespotting

Oakland Crimespotting is a dazzling interactive mapping application built on Microsoft’s Virtual Earth.  Crime incidents for the City of Oakland in California can be viewed over a time period or by type.  Clicking on a particular crime location brings up a maptip with more detailed information on the crime.  What pushes this application over the edge is the interaction of the map with the user’s mouse.  Hovering the cursor over a particular crime symbolfades the rest of the map while similar crime incidents are highlighted.  This allows the user to easily see where a particular type of crime is occuring.  The sliding bar on the lower left of the map enables the user to expand or contract the time period over which the crimes are mapped.  Users can access more detailed information about crimes either by clicking a crime incident on the map or see a report of all crimes by that particular type over the time period selected.

The mapping application is the brainchild of Michal Migurski, Tom Carden, and Eric Rodenbeck from Stamen Design’s who explain on the web site:

We’ve found ourselves frustrated by the proprietary systems and long disclaimers that ultimately limit information available to the public. As citizens we have a right to public information. A clear understanding of our environment is essential to an informed citizenry.

Instead of simply knowing where a crime took place, we would like to investigate questions like: Is there more crime this week than last week? More this month than last? Do robberies tend to happen close to murders? We’re interested in everything from complex questions of patterns and trends, to the most local of concerns on a block-by-block basis.