Applying Geovisual Analytics to Volunteered Crime Data

There is a great deal of volunteered data that is ripe for exploration and discovery. As an example, the Brazilian WikiCrimes web resource is rich with point data containing attributes such as type of crime, crime setting and reason for crime that have great potential for visual mining through geovisual analytics tools. One such tool is eXplorer, a freely-available web-based application. This chapter details the initial application of eXplorer to WikiCrimes data, mapped by both Brazilian state and degree grid cell. In line with one of the objectives of WikiCrimes and serving as a manifesto for similar online applications, it is anticipated that enhanced crime transparency and publicity will emerge more easily from information mined through geovisual analytics than the straightforward pin map display of crimes depicting a point pattern. Furthermore, as a Web 2.0 tool in the public domain, the exploration aspects should become a focus for more active public participation through additional cooperation. Finally, eXplorer embodies a form of spatial analysis, the product of which is a level of information processed and extracted from the “raw” point data of WikiCrimes and is therefore in a more digestible and therefore useful form for law enforcement officers and the public alike. Future plans include the introduction of other data such as demographic and car ownership data in an attempt to extract further meaning out of the WikiCrimes dataset