The Impact of Software on Crime Mapping

Abstract

Criminology has been greatly affected by the field of crime mapping. This has mostly been because of advancements in geographic information systems (GIS) and other spatial analysis software programs. The field has gained prominence and acceptance by effectively using software to combine criminological theory and geographic analysis principles. This occurred due to the operationalizing of geographic analysis techniques and the progress of computers and software. However, it has not just been through these innovations that crime mapping has flourished; they were also facilitated by software development tools that allowed criminologists and geographers to write software for their needs. This introduction to the special edition of Social Science Computing Review on crime mapping traces the growth of crime mapping through the development of geographic software and its use in criminology for mapping out and spatially analyzing crime.