Plattformen digitaler Kriminalitätsverortung - cpe - Universität ...

Abstract
Plattformen digitaler Kriminalitätsverortung
Chancen und Risiken aus Sicht der Raumplanung
Interactive Crime Mapping Systems - Opportunities and risks from the point of spatial planning
This thesis deals with the opportunities and risks of Interactive Crime Mapping Systems from the
point of spatial planning. These online platforms visualize criminal events on maps and become
more and more popular for normal citizens looking to evaluate the area of town they live or work
in.
In this paper the phenomenon of crime is examined and the problems of data collection are
described in detail. The thesis also shows the impact of crime on urban areas and their population,
which leads to the need for urban planning. Furthermore the basic historical development, which
resulted in the discussed crime mapping systems, is outlined. These systems will be analyzed in
detail on the basis of the following three characteristics: data set, functionality and type of
visualization.
The main contribution of this thesis is an investigation on the feared and hoped effects of these
systems on urban areas, their population, local players and in particular urban planners. As part of
this investigation, theses regarding the opportunities and risks are formulated and checked. The
result of weighing up the possible effects suggests that systems with public access can not meet
the promised expectations, due to a large amount of only poorly assessable risks. But it can be
shown that limiting the access to local urban players could minimize the risks of misinterpretation,
manipulation and unfounded fear of crime. This approach might allow the desired effects to be
reached.
The conclusion of this thesis is, that the positive effects of crime mapping systems can only be
achieved, if various complex factors like data privacy protection or fear of crime are considered,
which is not the case for any of the available systems.