InstantAtlas for crime mapping and reporting

InstantAtlas is an inexpensive yet powerful data visualization and presentation tool. It is being used in the UK and internationally by national, regional and local crime and policing bodies for online crime mapping and reporting. It enhances the value of data by making patterns and trends in crime statistics easy to see and explore. No specialist expertise in software development or GIS mapping is needed - yet the results can be stunning and highly effective.

InstantAtlas is being used at a national, regional and local level in the following areas:

Reporting of crime statistics to external citizens - this area is covered in detail on the JDI Crime Science Lab web site
Reporting of crime statistics to internal staff and partners, for example performance reports to management, delivery of local policing profiles, out-of-the-box neighbourhood information systems and area profile reporting tools
Highly interactive presentation tools to use in community workshops, management meetings or one-to-one sessions

Our report outputs can be linked to databases to deliver live crime dashboards or they can be completely stand-alone and portable. Stand-alone reports require no database or Internet connection yet still deliver a richly interactive user experience. This makes them ideal to load onto a laptop, CD or memory stick for presentations and interactive workshops. More information about specific InstantAtlas product options is provided below.

GeoWise have been working in the UK and internationally for over 10 years delivering innovative, market-leading data reporting and visualisation solutions for location-based statistical data. We offer off-the-shelf products designed specifically to make it easy and fast for you to deliver visual data using maps, charts, tables and area profile reports.

Crime and Community Safety Examples

We have included some recent crime reporting examples below, some of which are live operational applications, others are demonstration samples to show the power and flexibility of InstantAtlas.

In the UK, following its use for national crime mapping and reporting by the Home Office, a number of UK police forces have also adopted InstantAtlas as the optimum tactical solution for public facing crime reporting. Examples for South Yorkshire Police and Thames Valley Police are shown below. Some forces also intend to use the tool for internal performance reporting. A number of local authorities, local strategic partnerships and Crime and Disorder Reduction Partnerships (CDRPs) have also adopted InstantAtlas to allow them to share this type of data effectively across multiple local partners and present it in an intuitive and understandable way - see the Cornwall Crime Explorer example below for the Amethyst Project.

Internationally, this dynamic method for presenting crime statistics, crime detection rates and crime solving rates is generating a lot of interest, particularly in Germany. Examples are shown below for Hessen and for Germany as a whole and well as for Massachusetts, USA and Chile.

Home Office, UK (Live)	Amethyst, Cornwall Crime Explorer, UK (Live)
	Alternative demo versions: (1) Profile + larger map or (2) Large Map
Scale: National Purpose: To provide a publicly accessible geographic visualization of recorded crime patterns and trends across England and Wales InstantAtlas Template: Single Map	Scale: Local Purpose: To provide a report of recorded crime patterns and trends for Cornwall aimed at staff within the local crime reduction partnership and external citizens InstantAtlas Template: Performance Profile
South Yorkshire Police, UK (Live)	Thames Valley Police, UK (Live)

Scale: Regional Purpose: To provide a publicly accessible report of geographic patterns and temporal trends for recorded crime across South Yorkshire Police area InstantAtlas Template: Performance Profile	Scale: Regional Purpose: To provide a publicly accessible report of geographic patterns and temporal trends for recorded crime across Thames Valley Police area InstantAtlas Template: Performance Profile
Hessen Police, Germany (Demo)	Federal Criminal Police Office, Germany (Demo)

Scale: Regional Purpose: Demonstrate to German state police agencies the powerful visualization of cases solved by type and crime frequencies in both 2006 and 2007across Hessen. InstantAtlas Template: Single Map	Scale: National Purpose:To demonstrate a methodology of presenting, exploring and comparing crime profiles by German Land with case data from the Federal Police InstantAtlas Template: Area Profile
Crime Mapping, States, USA (Demo)	State Crime Statistics, Massachusetts, USA (Demo)

Scale: National Purpose:To provide a publicly accessible geographic visualization of recorded crime patterns for the United States. InstantAtlas Template: Single Map	Scale: Regional Purpose:To demonstrate to US state police agencies the powerful visualization of crime statistics with an example for Massachusetts. InstantAtlas Template: Single Map
Crime Map, Chile (Demo)	Crime Area Profiling, UK (Demo)

Scale: National Purpose:To demonstrate a methodology of presenting, exploring and comparing crime profiles by region with case data from the Chilean National Police. InstantAtlas Template: Area Profile	Scale: Local Purpose: To demonstrate how InstantAtlas Server can offer a comprehensive crime reporting application to manage and disseminate crime and any other statistics as profiles and interactive atlases. Suitable for internal or external reporting purposes. InstantAtlas Template: InstantAtlas Server + Single Map
Tyne & Wear Local Statistics Explorer, UK (Live)	Brent, London Crime Map, UK (Demo)

Scale: Regional Purpose:To provide a set of visual reporting tools to explore spatial and temporal crime data alongside other socio-economic statistics at small area level InstantAtlas Template: Single Map and Double Map	Scale: Local Purpose: To demonstrate how crime 'heat maps' (interpolated surfaces) can also be presented alongside crime data linked to fixed boundaries (choropleth maps). InstantAtlas Template: Single Map

InstantAtlas Product Options for Crime Mapping and Reporting

InstantAtlas is available as both a Desktop or Server product - you can select the solution that best meets your requirements.

Option 1: InstantAtlas Desktop

Option 2: InstantAtlas Server

1. Inexpensive and easy to implement, the solution is in widespread use internationally

2. Simple and quick to create report outputs for live web publication - create as many reports as you like using different geographies (safer neighbourhoods, police beats, administrative or political areas) at no additional cost

3. Reports are richly interactive, visually appealing and easy to use

4. Minimise IT implications - simply publish a set of static files on your existing web site

5. The solution is designed for analysts to publish and maintain outputs using familiar tools like Microsoft Excel and Access

1. Larger scale server-based solution to support both crime and any other locality-based statistics or performance indicators

2. Data delivered live from a database with ability to support multiple styles of output including flexible area profiles for local neighbourhood reporting

3. Can be linked into your existing web site and branded accordingly

4. Complete suite of web-based administration tools to allow multiple administrators to support the application

5. Can be delivered either as packaged software to implement on-site or as a fully managed service (hosted externally)

Useful Crime Mapping Resource Documents


Amethyst \| Case Study PDF Version or HTML Version	InstantAtlas for Crime and Community Safety (2 page brochure 3 Mb PDF)	Typical Excel Crime Data Manager file (Excel Spreadsheet)	InstantAtlas Documentation: Creating interactive reports and maps using InstantAtlas Desktop - available on request

About GeoWise and InstantAtlas

GeoWise develops and sells innovative, award-winning products and solutions that manage and present geography and statistics within web browsers. The GeoWise team has a unique blend of skills in data visualization, software, geography and statistics.

InstantAtlas™ improves the management and communication of location-based statistical data. InstantAtlas enables information analysts, researchers and GIS professionals to create highly-interactive web solutions that combine statistics and map data to improve data visualization, enhance communication, and engage people in more informed decision making.

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