Ripping up the Map: Criminology and Cartography Reconsidered

Applying Google Maps and Google Street View in criminological research

“…This doctoral dissertation illustrates how Street View imagery can be used to measure environmental characteristics that exhibit a strong temporal variability such as number of cars parked on the street. Kindynis (2014). Ripping up the map: Criminology and cartography reconsidered.…”

“…In addition to the research questions online mapping technologies might trigger, their availability is a boon to criminologists and Google Maps and Street View could become powerful methodological tools in criminological research (Kindynis 2014). First, they enable environmental criminologists to collect data on the physical environment, often in a cost-and time-efficient manner.…”

“…In addition to keeping a diary of places they visited during the study and being monitored via GPS, participants were required to pinpoint the places they visited in Google Maps. Google Maps can also be a particularly powerful tool to nurture crowdsourced and crowdcasted science, by letting users create and share maps embedded with information on their environment (Hudson-Smith et al 2009;Kindynis 2014;Lefer et al 2008). Thanks to such initiatives, social scientists and the general public alike are now able to collect, visualize and share vast amounts of data (Hudson-Smith et al 2009) ranging from population density (e.g., LondonProfiler.org), to the number of violent crimes in a particular area (e.g., maps.met.…”

“…Iraqi and Palestinian militants have admitted to using web-based mapping applications to select possible targets for terrorist attacks (Levinson 2007). Similarly, graffiti writers and shoplifters in London were found to use Street View to look for new targets (Kindynis 2014). Burglars are believed to 'google' for potential targets and may be using online mapping technologies when casing homes for break-ins (Michaels 2011).…”

“…Householders also believe Street View might contribute to burglary (The Telegraph 2010;Pyatt 2009;Power et al 2013), a concern that is shared by ex-burglars (Sterling 2011) and police unions (De Tijd 2011) alike. Interestingly, these applications also offer law enforcement agencies the opportunity b to establish new forms of surveillance and crime control (Kindynis 2014), while simultaneously empowering ordinary citizens by providing them with new tools to control law enforcement agencies (EURONEWS 2013) or give expression to their concerns about crime (Hudson-Smith et al 2009). …”