Huerta, Schade, Granell (Eds): Connecting a Digital Europe through Location and Place. Proceedings of the AGILE'2014 International Conference on Geographic Information Science, Castellón, June, 3-6, 2014. ISBN: 978-90-816960-4-3 1 Introduction Criminal events which accumulate over the geographic space have severe consequences, such as creating fear and general distrust among residents [1]. Burglaries for example are a common occurrence which deteriorates the economic framework of urban cities by discouraging local and international investors. Researchers, planners and law enforces can increase urban safety by predicting criminal events. Identifying common patterns of crime distribution across space enables the strategic placement of order enforcement mechanisms and programs. 2 Literature Review The potential of dynamic visualization to explore temporal changes in spatial data by manipulating spatial displays is clear. Brundson et al. compare the effectiveness of three visualization techniques; map animation, comaps, and isosurfaces [2]. Later studies have also employed interactive and dynamic visualization tools to map crime patterns within the spatial and temporal contexts [3, 4]. At local, regional and global conferences discussions of the capabilities of various tools to analyze crime within many applications have become commonplace. To understand how to effectively apply such tools, crime mappers and law enforcers use various interdisciplinary principles that demystify offender behaviour. Three such principles which underlie the methods used in this study, are time geography, routine activity and the offender’s rational choice [5, 6]. Time geography explains the rhythmic variations of human activity. Constricted by movement, people converge during specific spatio-temporal windows through the transport system. This forces social interaction and creates audience between criminals and their victims [7]. While recognizing this interaction, routine activity on the other hand explains crime to result from three elements uniting; a motivated offender, an attractive and unguarded victim or property, and the absence of a guardian to prevent the crime. Reducing crime therefore requires removing offenders or increasing safety guardians. Finally rational choice explains the offender as one who weighs the risks and returns associated with each crime. Guided by this principle we compare the occurrences of burglary alongside robbery which has higher associated risk and returns, to identify the variability in spatial and temporal signatures of different offenders. While each single criminal record contains vital and unique information, the collective mapping of multiple events in time and space unearths underlying patterns which inform the decision support processes of order enforcement practitioners. Hotspot mapping of crime events is a common and innovative use of crime mapping. To visualize the spatial and temporal dimensions of crime, several studies [8, 9] recommend computing kernel density for a locale of interest. With the blossoming of spatial analysis and GIS availability, empirical geography of crime is now embedded within the justice system of England and Wales [10]. This paper contributes to the existing body of literature by providing a systematic approach to analyze and visualize patterns of crime disturbance in the urban city of Manchester, England. A Spatial Approach to Surveying Crime-Problematic Areas at the Street Level Lucy Waruguru Mburu GIScience Group Heidelberg University Berliner Straße 48 69120 Heidelberg, Germany lucy.waruguru@geog.uni -heidelberg.de Alexander Zipf Chair, GIScience Group Heidelberg University Berliner Straße 48 69120 Heidelberg, Germany zipf@uni-heidelberg.de Abstract Reaching far beyond the realm of geography and its related disciplines, spatial analysis and visualization tools now actively support the decision-making processes of law enforcement agencies. Interactive mapping of crime outperforms the previously manual and laborious querying of crime databases. Using burglary and robbery events reported in the urban city of Manchester, England, we illustrate the utility of graphical methods for interactive analysis and visualization of event data. These novel surveillance techniques provide insight into offending characteristics and changes in the offending process in ways that cannot be replicated by traditional crime investigative methods. We present a step-wise methodology for computing the intensity of aggregated crime events which can potentially accelerate law enforcers’ decision making processes by mapping concentrations of crime in near real time. Keywords: Crime, spatial visualization, kernel density estimation, decision support.