Google Map Hack & Chicago Crime Data 391
joepez writes "In recent weeks we've seen some great Google Maps hacks (HousingMaps,
Google's own Ride Finder,
etc.), but this weekend Adrian has brought us something truly innovative. He's merged Google map data with Chicago crime data to present a once a day updated crime map of the entire city, including some really nice summarized data. Adrian calls the project Chicagocrime.org. How long till we have real time crime data showing up on Google's map? Pull open HousingMaps next to Chicagocrime.org and figure out if that low rent apartment is truly worth it. Or is this all a clever trick on Google's part to build up more and more third parties dependent upon Google?" There's also a cheap gas hack as well.
Slashdotted (Score:5, Funny)
Re:Slashdotted (Score:2, Interesting)
Re:Slashdotted (Score:3, Informative)
Although almost every single page of the site is cached, it's still fundamentally performance-intensive because there's a ton of data and it's very "sticky" content that's addictive to browse. The bottleneck is now at the cache level. Unfortunately I can't do anything about it now, because I'm at work.
Thanks for the attention.
Re:Slashdotted (Score:3, Funny)
Too funny.
Prostitution (Score:5, Informative)
Re:Prostitution (Score:5, Insightful)
Is slashdot broken? (Score:2)
Re:Is slashdot broken? (Score:2)
No I'm totally full of crap.
I think it's just incompetent people and trolls
Re:Prostitution (Score:2)
Re:Prostitution (Score:5, Funny)
Right. Foreign, married men _never_ use prostitutes.
Re:Prostitution (Score:2)
Re:Prostitution (Score:2)
Re:Prostitution (Score:2)
=Smidge=
Re:Prostitution (Score:2, Funny)
Re:Prostitution (Score:2)
Re:Prostitution (Score:5, Interesting)
Re:Prostitution (Score:5, Funny)
Re:Prostitution (Score:3, Funny)
You mean you like that your wife goes to hookers? What, are you impotent?
Why not both (Score:5, Interesting)
Why can't it be both. And if there is a way to keep it free the better for me.
Sex Offender's Registry (Score:5, Interesting)
A better implementation for this would be to link to each individual State's sex offender's registry. This data is readily provided and is in the public domain.
Re:Sex Offender's Registry (Score:5, Insightful)
Besides that, you probably don't want to know who really lives beside you.
Re:Sex Offender's Registry (Score:3, Informative)
Having knowledge as to the whereabouts of known sexual predators in your area is not "punishing" THEM.
Being the father of two small children, I definitely am interested in the number of sexual predators in my area.
Having perused my state's Offender's registry, I was surprised by the number of repeat offenders that are still loose on the streets.
Knowing the areas that had a high concentration of rapists definitely played a part in my house hunting decisions.
Re:Sex Offender's Registry (Score:5, Insightful)
Yes, there are child rapists on the list too. But can you tell them apart just from the list? Are you going to bother to try? I doubt it.
Re:Sex Offender's Registry (Score:5, Interesting)
Exact addresses are not given, just stuff like "1900 block of 25th Avenue".
Re:Sex Offender's Registry (Score:3, Interesting)
If they're that big a threat, I think residence in jail and/or a psych facility is preferable. It just baffles me that people can get so worked up about sex offender registration, but wouldn't dream of raising taxes a little bit to pay for greatly increasing the duration of incarceration.
Re:Sex Offender's Registry (Score:2, Interesting)
Being the father of two small children, I definitely am interested in the number of sexual predators in my area.
Having perused my state's Offender's registry, I was surprised by the number of repeat offenders that are still loose on the streets.
Knowing the areas that had a high concentration of rapists definitely played a part in my house hunting decisions
The idea is all well and good. The problem is tha
Re:Sex Offender's Registry (Score:2)
With Virginia's registry, it includes home and work addresses, so we'd be able to plot their likely route to work on the map too. Maybe they drive by your kids' school. (I hope not)
Once I figure out how to do all this myself, there are about a dozen maps projects I'd love to do. Most less serious than this one though...
Re:Sex Offender's Registry (Score:2)
Just under 20% of sex offenders will commit another sex related offense. With approximately 700 000 offenses in the US each year alone the numbers of people released each year who are likely to re-offend is quite high.
http://www.selfhelpmagazine.com/articles/trauma/of fender.html [selfhelpmagazine.com]
http://www.enotes.com/sexual-violence/ [enotes.com]
Re:Sex Offender's Registry (Score:2)
Re:Sex Offender's Registry (Score:2)
Re:Sex Offender's Registry (Score:2)
I know I shouldn't feed you but here goes...
OK So I have one comment calling me a pervert protector. And the other implying I am pervert prosecutor. I must be doing something right. As stated in my reply to the other post it is these types of stats that were used to provide proof of the need for the USA National Sex Offender Registry.
The article from SelfHelp magazine is a pointer to a study done for the "Department of the Solicitor General of Canada Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology"
SelfHel
Re:Sex Offender's Registry (Score:5, Interesting)
A British newspaper did a bit of shit stirring in an attempt to boost sales. They published locations of sexual offenders names and addresses around the country. It kicked off a wave of assaults, cases of mistaken identity and included one woman whose home was wrecked and she narrowly escaped... because she was a peadiatrician.
You want mob justice? Prepare for trial by gossip, then.
Re:Sex Offender's Registry (Score:3, Informative)
Um, not exactly. Six Flags has simply stated that sex offenders may be removed (or denied entry) to the park. They aren't checking your ID vs a sex offender list.
All amusment parks have rules about who can come in, and who can't. For example, a stereotypical "punk rocker" (leathe
Re:Sex Offender's Registry (Score:3, Interesting)
Re:Sex Offender's Registry (Score:5, Interesting)
Not all sex offenders are child molesters and kiddie rapists.
Re:Sex Offender's Registry (Score:3, Interesting)
Re:Sex Offender's Registry (Score:5, Interesting)
Re:Sex Offender's Registry (Score:2)
Re:Sex Offender's Registry (Score:5, Insightful)
This does not fall under a stupid mistake.. It's a retarded law that was excercised because of a hysterical mother somewhere.
Re:Sex Offender's Registry (Score:2)
Re:Sex Offender's Registry (Score:4, Insightful)
Why? (Score:4, Insightful)
Having said that:
* Why don't we fix the prison system so it does treat addictive behaviors related to sex?
* Why don't we distinguish between sex crimes that are connected to an addition and those that are not, and not track sexual offenders who are unlikely to commit a new crime?
* Why are there so many people on the list who don't deserve to be there? (Misguided applications of the statutory-rape laws come to mind, as others have pointed out.)
Without fixing these problems I am opposed to the sex offender registry, but I do understand why it exists.
Re:Why? (Score:3, Insightful)
Combine the Projects... (Score:2, Insightful)
Re:Combine the Projects... (Score:3)
Then the thieves would start using it to determine where to steal great computer equipment from.
My Google Hack Idea (Score:5, Interesting)
Not sure how it would make money, but would be cool as hell with those satellite maps.
Re:My Google Hack Idea (Score:5, Informative)
http://kharkoma.homelinux.com/gmaps/gmaptc.html [homelinux.com]
A great idea for the rest of us... (Score:5, Informative)
The NYPD uses a system very much like this, called COMPSTAT [nyc.gov].
More about the history of the program here (clicky) [baselinemag.com]
Here's an excerpt from the NYPD website:
"Among the Command and Control Center's high-tech capabilities is its computerized 'pin mapping' which displays crime, arrest and quality of life data in a host of visual formats including comparative charts, graphs and tables. Through the use of MAPINFO software and other computer technology, for example, the CompStat database can be accessed and a precinct map depicting virtually any combination of crime and/or arrest locations, crime 'hot spots' and other relevant information can be instantly projected on the Center's large video projection screens."
Re:A great idea for the rest of us... (Score:5, Informative)
Re:A great idea for the rest of us... (Score:5, Informative)
Re:A great idea for the rest of us... (Score:3, Informative)
I doubt that was their intention... (Score:5, Insightful)
I doubt that Google intended on getting third parties dependent on GMaps. If they really wanted that to happen they would have released an open API rather than having to have people poke around in the code to figure out how it all worked.
Yeah, you can do some REALLY neat stuff with GMaps now (and even some of the things I suggested should be available when it first came out) but I just don't think that it was Google's main intention.
If anything, they just want to be a player in the same markets as Yahoo and MSN and not have to link to their competitor's mapping products.
Wow... (Score:4, Interesting)
Re:Wow... (Score:2)
Real Time Crime (Score:5, Funny)
<obligatory>
It's already been done [google.com]
</obligatory>
Re:Real Time Crime (Score:2)
Re:Real Time Crime (Score:2)
I think that same thing can be said for most of the inhabitants as well.
Dissent is highly patriotic (Score:2)
Poor suckers. (Score:5, Informative)
So you'll just have to take my word for it -- it was pretty cool. I found out that there were three reported crimes at Chicago cemeteries, for example -- a theft, a trespassing, and a vandalism. Crimes at airports included a "theft by lessee" -- looks like there's somebody at Midway who you shouldn't get your rental car from.
The gas station link is holding up better, though. Hope it's not hosted at a gas station... kablooie!
While not nearly as cool... (Score:5, Informative)
The police could use it if ... (Score:3, Funny)
Re:The police could use it if ... (Score:2)
Re:The police could use it if ... (Score:2)
It's been done, but they still have a few bugs to work out [imdb.com].
From looking at this page (Score:2, Funny)
It must be a wonderful place to live!
OT: SimCity (Score:5, Funny)
Ah, what a great game...
Re:OT: SimCity (Score:4, Interesting)
The Fickle Slashdot Opinion (Score:4, Insightful)
It's amazing how fast a company can go from being Slashdot's little darling to suddenly being suspected at every turn of being the new EvilEmpire(tm).
Guys, these people are making wonderful tools and making them available for free, and letting people mess with them. They're probably reading comments like that slack-jawed, thinking "man, you just can't win with that crowd!" Give em a break! :)
-M
Re:The Fickle Slashdot Opinion (Score:2)
Re:The Fickle Slashdot Opinion (Score:2)
Re:The Fickle Slashdot Opinion (Score:2)
I believe t
The big picture (Score:5, Interesting)
Or is this all a clever trick on Google's part to build up more and more third parties dependent upon Google?
I think it's just a case of people using tools in ways their creators didn't envision. As Perl's Larry Wall says, that's the mark of a good tool.
Another way to look at it is that if you serve people, they become dependent on you. Google is trying to build its business by offering services and getting people hooked.
I, for one, welcome our new information infrastructure servant overlords.
Re:The big picture (Score:2, Funny)
Best. Overlord. Quote. Ever.
*prepares quote on banner to hang on entrance to NOC*
Not at all new (Score:5, Informative)
It let me see that one prospective condo was right in a corner of fairly low crime, bordered by much higher crime. I could have guessed that visiting the neighborhood, but it was nice to see somewhat empirically.
Google maps with craigslist - Howto (Score:3, Interesting)
Way back when... (Score:2)
As it turned out, the area was "bad." I wonder if she just didn't want to tell me, or is there really such a restriction?
Re:Way back when... (Score:2)
Re:Way back when... (Score:2)
Or it could be interpreted as a desire for a neighborhood where people in trucks don't shout obscenities at pedestrians, for no apparent reason, other than picking their inheritance from the shallow end of the gene pool. Or kick holes in doors, because it's less boring than standing on the street corner waiting for something to happen. Or shoot people for $3 and the thrill of it, mostly the thrill, and a deep formless anger.
PLEASE make Coral links mandatory (Score:5, Insightful)
Seriously, just make it an automated process or something. ALWAYS make it a Coral link.
Re:MOD Parent DOWN... (Score:3, Informative)
Sure, the dynamic bits still have to get through, but what about all the graphics that get served out? I know that's just bandwidth, and requires almost 0 processing on the sender's part, but it would still help when 250,000 slashdotters descend on a site at once. At least his bandwidth won't max out anywhere near as quickly.
I was able to use the site via the Coral Caching system (before it got totally zonked) and it appea
And for my next Google Maps Hack... (Score:3, Funny)
Next, movie capability? (Score:3, Interesting)
The trick is to come up with a visual representation so that if some crook is hitting South Side liquor stores about once a week, somebody sees it. In classical policing, that's not likely to be noticed unless the crook commits all their crimes in the same precinct on the same shift.
What is the deal? (Score:2)
Probably, yes but WTF? Google is offering a service, you can choose to use it, or not. Go build your own if you don't like the fact that a Company is doing it (GL HF). Not every product or service offered by a company is some sort of hidden conspiracy to steal our lives and take our money. I also fail to see how "novelty" products such as these constitute a "dependency" on the google map service.
Real-time crime maps (Score:2)
Oh my... (Score:3, Informative)
Mirrordot came up empty but there does seem to be a Coral Cache [nyud.net] available.
Need a Hack (Score:2)
It should be a very simple hack. Let us know if someone has already done it.
Wapiti Watch (Score:2, Interesting)
I live in a resort community in the Colorado rocky mountains. Every fall we have a few weeks
of elk (wapiti) mating season where tourist type folks drive around looking for the herds of elk.
I think it would be really cool to have a google maps app on a website where people could click on a map to show where they saw elk.
How would I go about doing that?
no doubt a cool hack but... (Score:2)
http://12.17.79.6/ctznicam/ctznicam.asp [12.17.79.6]
Re:no doubt a cool hack but... (Score:2)
"Oh my god, big city crime! Aaagh!"
Google Hack I'd like (Score:2)
heh. the other night (Score:4, Interesting)
I whipped up a google maps hack of geolocation of Illinois registered sex offenders: http://demon.dopeman.org/sexOffenders/ [dopeman.org] It was amazingly easy.
I used all of the tutorials and shit that the rancidbacon [rancidbacon.com] peeps created. made it rather simple. actually delightful.
now if i was only mapping locations of something cool.. rather than depressing things.
stupid maps.
Re:heh. the other night (Score:2)
1060 West Addison Chicago, IL
=P
I call it "the dusty baker effect"
e.
Portland Oregon already has something better (Score:3, Informative)
very effective (Score:4, Funny)
15 minutes of criminal fame... (Score:2, Funny)
and then the next logical step...
Dear Google Inc.:
I was pleased to hear that Google's map data had finally been merged with real-time crime data. To celebrate, I knocked over two liquor stores on the 800 block of Harrison, then mugged a guy over on Grant and committed some minor vandalism around Eastwood. Then I headed on back to my apartment to see my efforts rewarded on your site.
Imagine my surprise when I got back to my b
Careful! (Score:2)
Connect The Dots! (Score:2)
How long before real estate interests ... (Score:4, Interesting)
How long before real estate interests make him pull the site down or make the agencies providing the crime data stop providing it - or stop providing it in a computer-useful form?
Not a purely academic question. My wife noticed that crimes we's heard about from other sources was not being reported in some areas of Silicon Valley and asked the San Jose paper in question about it. The person she reached said that they didn't want to depress real estate values. B-(
Then they wonder why we don't subscribe these days, and prefer to get our news from the web.
Gas at $2/gallon *is* cheap. (Score:3, Insightful)
Re:Larger Scale (Score:2)
Re:You gotta be kidding me (Score:3, Informative)
Blacks are seven times more likely to commit homicide than whites.
http://www.ojp.usdoj.gov/bjs/homicide/race.htm [usdoj.gov]
Chicago really is a dangerous city. I didn't even apply to the University of Chicago (even though I had a reasonable chance of being admitted) due to the fact that the neighborhood around the college is so dangerous that students can't even leave!