By Rachel Weeden, Esri Technical Sales Manager
I know many of you who map data for law enforcement agencies struggle with finding just the right way to symbolize your crime data. Some of you customize the Esri Crime style to meet your needs, some use simple symbols from other styles, and others design your own symbols from scratch. For a new project I’m working on, none of these options were optimal for me – I wanted a symbol set that looks modern, “pops” off the ArcGIS base maps, yet still conveys an element of the “traditional” crime symbols we’re used to. Given that I have little artistic talent of my own, I enlisted the help of Esri’s Graphics Department to design a new set of crime symbols. Together, we developed a new set of 13 common crime symbols for use in Web mapping applications, but also work well in ArcGIS desktop projects.
Hopefully, many of you will get to see the symbols in action at this year’s Esri User Conference, where I’ll be showing maps with these symbols in the Public Safety Showcase Theater. But even better, they’re available for download in a new style on the ArcGIS Resources page of Mapping Center.
For help working with style files in ArcGIS Desktop, you can check out the online help topic, “What Are symbols and styles?”
Here’s a map I made with the new crime symbols in ArcMap that uses the Esri World Topographic map service from ArcGIS.com as the base map:
2 Responses to New crime mapping symbols available
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That’s a great symbol set, but I have two issues with it.
First, you need separate symbols for aggravated assault and simple assault. Those are two very different crimes, especially since aggravated assault is a Type I crime and simple assault is a Type II crime. (Meanwhile, rape is almost never reported on crime maps.)
My second issue is the color scheme. Homicide, narcotics, rape, theft, and vehicle theft appear to be one color group; Arson, robbery, and vehicle break-in another; assault, burglary, and disorderly conduct look like a third color group. (Weapon seems somewhere in between the first two groups). I think it would be much more effective to have a scheme that either separated Type I, Type II, and other or separated crimes against persons, crimes against property, and social crimes (see crimespotting.com for a great example of the effectiveness of this). The overall color pattern needs to have some meaning as well as the symbols.
You could also use bubble shape to relay information. For example, if you use color to differentiate crimes against persons, crimes against property, and social crimes, you could then use the square bubbles for Type I and rounded bubbles for Type II and unclassified.
That’s a great symbol set, but I have two issues with it.
First, you need separate symbols for aggravated assault and simple assault. Those are two very different crimes, especially since aggravated assault is a Type I crime and simple assault is a Type II crime. (Meanwhile, rape is almost never reported on crime maps.)
My second issue is the color scheme. Homicide, narcotics, rape, theft, and vehicle theft appear to be one color group; Arson, robbery, and vehicle break-in another; assault, burglary, and disorderly conduct look like a third color group. (Weapon seems somewhere in between the first two groups). I think it would be much more effective to have a scheme that either separated Type I, Type II, and other or separated crimes against persons, crimes against property, and social crimes (see crimespotting.com for a great example of the effectiveness of this). The overall color pattern needs to have some meaning as well as the symbols.
You could also use bubble shape to relay information. For example, if you use color to differentiate crimes against persons, crimes against property, and social crimes, you could then use the square bubbles for Type I and rounded bubbles for Type II and unclassified.