The Metropolitan Police Service – maps.met.police.uk
Here’s a great online service, if you live in the London area, you can now view a graphic overview of areas of crime all over London – It gets better, you can also drill down into your own neighbourhood – via Google Maps – and view different types of crime; from anti social behaviour (ASBO) to theft from motor vehicle. Clicking on an area also instantly displays a summary of crime!
I wonder how long it will be until I can click on it and see what I dealt with myself! or even – with the advances in technology – how long until Google Earth is live, and we get to see robberies in progress, with a nice little AJAX 999(911) red button…
I think this is fantastic, and the sickest thing is, I was thinking about doing this myself just 1 month ago, as nothing like it existed (I didn’t look very hard). ARGH!
People will probably disapprove (as it’s the fashion to slate everything the Met does, isn’t it?) and say that it’s going to put people off moving to or visiting certain areas, that it will have a negative effect on businesses – all the usual clap trap e.g. Leyton has the most vehicle crime, so people travelling into London on the tube from there will now park somewhere else, therefore car parks lose income, the Evening Standard guy has to sell the Big Issue, and the snack shack at the station entrance is now a hand car wash outlet (not that there will be any cars!).. Perhaps it’s a good thing if people start to use this map to base their decisions, and posibly avoid places because the government and local councils will have to start doing something about it, and practise what they preach and get people back again.
Anyway, I’m really glad to see the Met coming into the 21st Century with regards to their online presence. May I also be the one to coin the tag line “View Crime, Online”.. not feeling it?
And don’t forget, keep em peeled, say no to drugs, and THINK.
P.
How to use the map
Because there is a great deal of data to display, the map can slow down your web browser. The map will automatically show smaller areas (wards and sub-wards) as you zoom in. If you search the map, it will show you the most detailed level for the area closest to your search.
There are a number of ways to control the way the data is displayed on the map:
Crime Types can be changed by clicking on the “Crime Types” menu and selecting the crime in which you are interested. Only one Crime Type can be shown at a time but all crime can be shown together by selecting “Total Notifiable Offences”
Police Station locations can be shown by clicking on the “Refine Map” menu and selecting “Police Station”
To Compare crime levels in a specific borough you must first click on the area of the map you are interested in, or search for an address or postcode. Click on the “Refine Map” Menu and select “Compare crime levels in selected borough”. The crimes will be displayed to ward or sub-ward level at all zoom levels to enable easier comparison across local areas.
