Hi class,

I have just learned about Harrasmap, a map to the service of urban living issues in Egypt. Women who experience sexual harassment while walking the streets of Cairo will soon have a way to use Twitter to fight back. Harrasmap will collect tweeted or texted reports of whistles and other unwanted harassment; the data will be used to generate a real-time map of the city showing areas that might be unsafe for women. With 83% of Egyptian women and 98% of female foreign residents saying they have experienced harassment in Cairo, the site’s founders say they hope the service will help victims realize that they aren’t alone. (Read the full press release here).

While reading this article, I remember a user-generated project that serves a similar purpose in my country: the “mapa de la inseguridad” (Map of Unsafe Areas) – “made for and by the people”.

Crimespotting is an interactive map of crimes in San Francisco and Oakland (“This project is not affiliated with the City of Oakland or the Oakland Police Department. We use data obtained from CrimeWatch, Oakland’s community mapping website”).

Are these helpful tools for understanding crime in cities? Do these living archives work as sources for intelligent action? Are governments implementing solutions based on learning gathered from these user-generated initiatives?

What do you think?

Ariana

Crime & Maps – Making the invisible visible

One Comment

  • 1 shannon wrote:

    Maps, like all media, aren’t neutral containers of information. In this case, I think these maps could be used either for intelligent action or for *un*intelligent action — for “profiling,” for the cultivation of stereotypes of particular areas, etc. Think also of the availability of sex offender maps!

    Speaking of criminal justice and maps, this map — Million Dollar Blocks — from Columbia’s Spatial Information Design Lab might be of interest: http://www.spatialinformationdesignlab.org/projects.php?id=16

    October 28, 2010 at 8:59 am Permalink