Software Review: Spatial Data Analysis of Crime

Abstract

CrimeStat III is a spatial statistics program for the analysis of crime incident locations. The program has three main components: (1) the Spatial Description component allows the user to conduct analyses regarding spatial distribution of data, (2) the Spatial Modeling component allows the user to analyze the spatial behavior of data, and (3) the Crime Travel Demand Modeling component allows the user to analyze the behavior of potential serial offenders. Overall, CrimeStat III is fairly easy to use once an initial familiarity has been established with the software. This can be accomplished through the manual or the intuitive GUI. Currently, the only significant restriction to the utility of the software is its reliance on the Windows operating system. This review provides a discussion of technical utilization of the software, and a look at how this software is useful in a practical manner for the spatial data analysis of crime.