APPENDICES

A. List of Interviewees

B. Resource Checklist

C. Bibliography

D. Crime Mapping Readiness Self-Assessment

E. Technical Specifications

APPENDIX A: LIST OF INTERVIEWEES

North Carolina Interviewees

Asheville, NC: Al Hyder, Administrative Services Manager, Asheville Police Department 6/5/00; Lieutenant Don Babb, Asheville Police Department 6/5/00; Deborah Yanik, Crime Analyst, Asheville Police Department 6/5/00 .

Jurisdiction Size: 61,607 (1990)

Cary, NC: Jennifer Morgan, Crime Analyst, Cary Police Department, 6/9/00; Patricia Bazemor, Captain, Cary Police Department, 6/9/00; Randy Byrd, Inspector, Cary Police Department, 6/9/00.

Jurisdiction Size: 43,858 (1990)

Charlotte, NC: John Couchell, Assistant Director Crime Analysis Unit Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Department 5/30/00; Monica Nguyen, GIS Coordinator Crime Analysis Unit, Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Department 5/30/00; Kevin Whitman, Major, Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Department 5/30/00; Harold Medlock, Sergeant, Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Department 5/30/00.

Jurisdiction Size: including Mecklenburg County 511,433 (1990)

Durham, NC : Belinda Pridgen, Lead Crime Analyst, Durham Police Department 6/29/00; Beverly Council, Captain, Durham Police Department 6/29/00; J.M. Bjurstrom, Lieutenant, Durham Police Department 6/29/00.

Jurisdiction Size: 136,611 (1990)

Greensboro, NC: David Cook, Criminologist, Crime Analysis Unit, Greensboro Police Department, 6/7/00.

Jurisdiction Size: 183,521 (1990)

Wilson, NC: C. K. Lamm, Crime Analyst, Wilson Police Department, 6/16/2000; Mark Wells, GIS Coordinator, City of Wilson, 5/16/2000; Major Billy White, Wilson Police Department, 6/16/2000; Mark McKenzie, Patrol Officer, Wilson Police Department, 6/16/2000.

Jurisdiction Size: 66,061 (1990)

Winston-Salem, NC: Julia Conley, Senior Systems Analyst, Winston-Salem Police Department, 5/18/2000; Homer Craig, Captain, Winston-Salem Police Department, 5/18/2000; D. J. Perry, Sergeant, Winston-Salem Police Department, 5/18/2000.

Jurisdiction Size: 143,485 (1990)

Other Telephone Interviews, by State

Tempe, AZ: Tammy Garrett, Crime Analyst, Tempe Police Department, Tempe, AZ. Jurisdiction Size: 141,865 (1990)

Mesa, AZ : Charlotte Quintana, Crime Analysis Supervisor, Mesa Police Department, Mesa AZ Jurisdiction Size: 288,091 (1990)

Los Angeles, CA: Steve Sullivan, Supervising Crime Analysis, Crime Analysis Program, 3/21/2000. Jurisdiction Size: Los Angeles County 8,863,164 (1990)

Redlands, CA: Sheila Harbert Crime Analyst, Redlands Police Department, 4/21/2000.

Jurisdiction Size: 60,394 (1990)

San Diego, CA: Deena Bowman-Jamieson, Information Systems Analyst II San Diego Police Department, 8/14/00. Jurisdiction Size 1,886,748 (1990)

Vacaville, CA: Chris Schaub, 3/16/2000. Jurisdiction size: 87,000.

Colorado Springs, CO: Ed Orff, Senior Crime Analyst Colorado Springs Police Department, 8/14/00 Jurisdiction Size 281,140 (1990)

New Haven, CT: Judy Sklarz, Planning and Research Unit, New Haven Police Department, 4/25/2000. Jurisdiction Size: 130,474 (1990). 4.5 MIS, 2 crime analysis, 2 planning, 1 GIS positions in department with 472 positions plus 180 civilians.

Osceola County, FL: Susan Solano, 3/23/2000 (by telephone).

Jurisdiction Size: 107,728 (1990)

Lenexa, KS: Carol McCoy, Crime Analyst, Lenexa Police Department, 4/25/2000

Jurisdiction Size: 34,034 (1990)

Cambridge, MA: Chris Bruce, Crime Analyst, Cambridge Police Department, Cambridge, MA. Jurisdiction Size: 95,802 (1990)

Baltimore County, MD: Philip Canter, Chief Statistician, Baltimore County Police Department, 6/15/2000. Jurisdiction size: 714,000 population approx. 17,050 officers

Las Vegas, NV: Dan Helms, Crime Analyst Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department, 8/15/00 Jurisdiction Size 258,295 (1990)

Rochester, NY: Lieutenant Michael Wood, Commanding Officer of the Crime Analysis Unit Rochester Police Department 8/31/00 Jurisdiction size 231, 636 (1990)

Gallatin, TN: Justin Croniser, 3/29/2000 (by telephone). Jurisdiction size: 21,608 (1998). 53 police officers.

Austin, TX: Al Johnson, Crime Information Systems Supervisor, All State Crime Analysis Unit, Austin Police Department, 4/20/2000 Jurisdiction Size: 465,622 (1990)

Seattle, WA: Ron Rasmussen, Sergeant, Seattle Crime Analysis Unit, Seattle Police Department. Jurisdiction Size: 807,786 (1990)

APPENDIX B: RESOURCE CHECKLIST

Listed alphabetically:

* Alpha Group. In establishing GIS in crime analysis units it may be necessary to train designated personnel in basic crime analysis techniques before beginning their GIS training. One resource mentioned by several of our interviewees is the Alpha Group whose executive director, Steven Gottlieb, conducts seminars throughout the country on crime analysis and intelligence and is the lead author for one of the premiere textbooks in the field of crime analysis. The textbook is entitled "Crime Analysis from First Report to Final Arrest," and may be ordered from the Alpha Group Website at http://www.alphagroupcenter.com/.

* Analysis Consulting & Training Now, Inc. (A.C.T. Now, Inc) offers on-site training in "Setting Up A Crime Analysis Unit," including an overview of crime mapping and analysis. Topics include planning, getting buy-in from command staff, staffing, training, feedback, and data management for the three-day short course. Contact A.C.T. at (913) 302-4455 or (817) 721-9281.

* Applied Geographic, Inc., Boston, MA. AGI is the vendor developing the SCAMP regional crime mapping service for the Massachusetts State Police. Applied Geographic's Website is found at http://www.appgeo.com/homepage/default.htm. You may contact AGI through Joan Gardner, President, Applied Geographics, Inc., 100 Franklin St. Boston, MA 02110. Joan can be reached at (617) 292-7125 during normal working hours, or via fax at (617) 292-7911.

* Baltimore County Police Department. Based on a NI grant, the BCPD produced RCAGIS (Regional Crime Analysis Geographic Information System) to query tactical crime databases and generate maps. At this writing the program is being reworked for an Internet environment as RCAP (Regional Crime Analysis Program). Contact Philip Canter, Chief Statistician, BCPD < pcanter@co.ba.md.us>.

* Carolinas Institute for Community Policing is a Regional Community Policing Institute funded by the United States Department of Justice., Charlotte- Mecklenberg, NC. In cooperation with the COPS Office the Institute focuses on providing free courses in GIS to law enforcement agencies and attracts a national audience. Although there is some emphasis on teaching Arcview, there are also courses such as AGIS for Community Problem-Oriented Policing, which focuses on how to effectively develop maps and reports needed for decision making and presentations. Other courses include "Crime Mapping for Community Policing", "An Introduction to GIS for Analysts", "Intermediate GIS for Analysts," and "Advanced Topics in GIS." The Institute offers courses in Charlotte, NC, and other locations in North and South Carolina. For information call 1-877-726-0555 or on the web go to http://www.cicp.org.

* COPS is an arm of the U. S. Department of Justice, located at http://www.usdoj.gov/cops. It has a strong interest in crime mapping and lists grants (including the COP More grants), programs, and funding opportunities, complete with application toolkits. It also makes available training and technical assistance and has a clearinghouse on community policing resources, including some mapping coverage.

* Councils of Government (COGs) in various areas have been excellent GIS resources for law enforcement agencies. For example, the Council of Governments Organization, Baltimore Metropolitan Council, has been beneficial for the Baltimore County Police Department. North Carolina regional government councils have a website link at http://www.regionc.org/lro_map.html.The website includes names, addresses, and telephone numbers for all of North Carolina's councils and it includes a North Carolina map showing the different council areas.

* The Crime Mapping Research Center (CMRC), National Institute of Justice. Among many other resources, the CMRC website makes available CrimeStat, a public domain program which supports hot spot kernel smoothing, nearest neighbor hierarchical clustering, k-means, nearest neighbor analysis, and k-nearest neighbor analysis. The website is found at http://www.ojp.usdoj.gov/cmrc/. Their page of links to crime mapping software is at http://www.ojp.gov/cmrc/software/. The have slide show presentations on "What is Crime Mapping?", "Crime Mapping for Managers," "Crime Mapping for Community Policing," and other topics at http://www.ojp.usdoj.gov/cmrc/training/download/.

* The Crimemap online discussion list. To subscribe, send the message Asubscribe crimemap@ (without quotes) to listserv@lists.aspensys.com. To post to the list: crimemap@lists.aspensys.com. This very active list allows users to post technical questions and receive peer advice by e-mail.

* The Criminal GIS Division, Department of Justice, which has developed application software such as ArcAges and SCAS (Spatial Crime Analysis System), an ArcView-based GIS application for spatial analysis and mapping. The gateway webpage to both of these systems is found at http://www.usdoj.gov/criminal/gis/index.htm.

* Dataview Solutions is the source for WebPublisher (approximately $750/license), a solution for putting maps on the web alternative to ESRI products such as MapObjects and IMS. It allows agencies to easily create and publish interactive map themes and content to intranet or internet sites so users can then access maps using click and point routines and can link to other sites. WebPublisher is compatible with ArcView and MapInfo. The website is http://londonelection.geoweb.co.uk. Contact Spencer Chainey, Senior Consultant, Dataview Solutions, 40-42 Parker Street, London C2B 5PQ; Tel: +44 (0)20 7404 0640;

* ESRI, publishers of the leading mapping software, provides licensed support for users of ArcView, ArcInfo, ArcExplorer, MapObjects, ArcIMS, and related products. They operate the AESRI Virtual Campus, with numerous online courses, some free (http://campus.esri.com/). There are also online user conferences (https://gis.esri.com/uc2000/registration/ucregistration1.cfm) as well as pre- and post-conference training classes (http://www.esri.com/training/index.html). They also have a department specific to sharing ESRI-based solutions for law enforcement. The ESRI Livable Communities Grant Series includes Law Enforcement Grants. The ESRI online newsletter is arcwatch@esri.com. (To subscribe, go to http://www.esri.com/arcwatch). ArcView is the most commonly used crime mapping product. ArcIMS is ESRI's solution for providing mapping and location services via the Internet.

* Geospatial Technologies is the publisher of GST CrimeMap software, and has a website located at http://www.geospatialtech.com/. This software has built-in analytical tools for crime analysts to conduct hot spot analysis, intensity analysis, density analysis, concentration analysis, temporal pattern analysis, time series analysis, and threshold analysis.

* The Illinois Criminal Justice Information Authority, which publishes the software STAC (Spatial and Temporal Analysis of Crime), which computes standard deviational ellipses and other forms of hot spot mapping. The Illinois Criminal Justice Information Authority website is located at http://www.icjia.state.il.us/public/index.cfm. The site has many free publications for downloading, and an email alert called the CJ Dispatch. The webpage also includes a packet to download in Adobe PDF format. To contact by mail, the address is: Attn: STAC, Illinois Criminal Justice Information Authority, 120 South Riverside Plaza, Suite 1016, Chicago, IL 60606.

* Institute for Law and Justice. The Institute for Law and Justice (ILJ) is a private, non-profit corporation dedicated to consulting, research, evaluation, and training in criminal justice. The url is http://www.ilj.org/. The ILJ has a GIS Decision Model for evaluating GIS readiness and prescribing appropriate software. Go to ftp://ftp.ilj.org and click into the GIS Model folder, download all four files, then run setup.exe.

* The International Association of Chiefs of Police (IACP) provides training in crime mapping. The website is found at http://www.theiacp.org/. Training is linked from the index page; and there is a search engine available.

* International Association of Crime Analysts (IACA) runs training conferences, with information available at http://www.iaca.net. Crime mapping is covered regularly.

* MapInfo, publishers of mapping software, provides training opportunities, though usually not specific to crime mapping. The website for the company is found at http://www.mapinfo.com/ and includes a search engine available on the site. There is a tutorial on crime applications, including crime mapping, with MapInfo at the following address:

http://www.mapinfo.com/industry/government/application_areas/index.cfm

* Mapping Communications, Inc., can provide daily reports printed to the fax machine and give recommendations for day-to-day activities based on automated crime scene analysis. They also run workshops and conferences. Their website is at http://www.mappingcommunications.com.

* National Criminal Justice Reference Service, Office of Juvenile Justice and Deliquency Prevention publishes the report "Establishing and Maintaining Interagency Information Sharing," a useful report on data-sharing agreements. Publication NCJ 178281 (free): http://www.ncjrs.org/ncjpubs.htm.

* National Institute of Justice, which funds grants and provides a variety of mapping-related services and publications operates a website at http://www.ojp.usdoj.gov/nij/. A search engine is available and typing in "crime mapping" will return hundreds of hits. For funding opportunities, see http://www.ojp.usdoj.gov/nij/funding.htm.

* National Law Enforcement and Corrections Technology Center (NLECTC) is a program of the National Institute of Justice (NIJ) Office of Science and Technology (OS&T). NLECTC provides information, guidelines, standards, objective testing data, and science and engineering advice on technology, including GIS. The NLECTC system includes the national center in Rockville, MD, and four regional centers operating in Charleston, SC (for the Southeastern region) as well as Denver, CO; El Segundo, CA; and Rome, NY. The Denver office operates CMAP, the Crime Mapping and Analysis Project, which does training and technical assistance in GIS.The URL is http://www.nlectc.org . On CMAP, see also http://www.nlectc.org/nlectcrm/cmaptrain.html.

* North Carolina Center for Geographic Information and Analysis, Office of State Planning, 301 North Wilmington Street, Suite 700, 20322 Mail Service Center, Raleigh, NC 27699-0322, hosts the North Carolina MapNet website at http://www.ncmapnet.com. With NCURISA, it cosponsors an annual North Carolina Geographic Information Systems Conference. It also provides 1998 color infrared orthophotgraphs to the public via the Internet. Contact Tim Johnson, Services Program Manager, 919-733-2090 ; fax 919-715-0725; <tim@cgia.state.nc.us>.

* North Carolina Geographic Data Clearinghouse at http://www.cgia.state.nc.us/ncgdc. As the North Carolina geographic information search gateway, these pages are designed to bring geographic data producers and users together by allowing producers of geographic data within North Carolina to advertise their data, and by enabling all data users to perform multiple types of data searches.

* North Carolina Urban and Regional Information Systems Association (NCURISA) is located at http://apollo.intrstar.net/~ncurisa/. It is an organization that is dedicated to providing educational and professional opportunities for members, and to applying technology to the management of communities and the state. The national organization and the North Carolina chapter are heavily focused on the use of GIS in the public sector. There are several meetings scheduled throughout the state in various locations.

* Omega Group. The publishers of CrimeView and CrimeView Internet, ArcView add-ons for crime mapping. CrimeView Internet is a fundamental set of CrimeView functions available through an intranet without the need for individual ArcView and CrimeView licenses See http://www.theomegagroup.com/.

* The Police Foundation's Crime Mapping Laboratory offered free short courses in crime mapping, based on a COPS grant. It issues Crime Mapping News Contact Rachel Boba, Ph.D., Director, Crime Mapping Laboratory, Police Foundation, 1201 Connecticut N.W. Suite 200, Washington, D.C. 20036; tel. 202-833-1460; fax 202-659-9149; rboba@policefoundation.org or pfinfo@policefoundation.org; http://www.policefoundation.org.

*Rio Hondo College's Department of Public Service in Whittier, CA has training in GIS. For information concerning the G.I.S. (Geographic Information System) training contact Professor Robert Feliciano at (562) 908-3406 x 3510. E-mail: Robert Feliciano at RFeliciano@rh.cc.ca.us. The college website for the Department of Public Service is located at http://www.rh.cc.ca.us/divisions/business_technology/gis/.

* San Diego Police Department. Their ARJIS data management system uses both in-house and third party analytical routines based on ARCINFO/ARCVIEW mapping software. See http://www.sannet.gov/police/

* The Virginia Institute for Justice Information Systems, which publishes the crime analysis software. ReCAP and ReCAP-SDE (Regional Crime Analysis Program - Small Department Edition), for data import, plotting, statistical control charts, and mapping using Arcview MapObjects. Available free at http://vijis.sys.virginia.edu/home.htm. Coontact Jason Dalton, Program Director <jrd7y@virginia.edu>.

APPENDIX C: BIBLIOGRAPHY

Bibel, Dan (2000). "Statewide crime analysis and mapping: An on-going project," Crime Mapping News, Vol. 2, No. 3 (Summer 20000): 1-4.

Block, Carolyn R., Margaret Dabdoub, and Suzanne Fregly, eds. (1995). Crime analysis through computer mapping. Washington, DC: Police Executive Research Forum .

Budic, Zorica D. (1994). Effectiveness of geographic information systems in local planning. Journal of the American Planning Association 60(2): 244-263.

Cope, Jeff et al. (1998). Five step method to regional crime analysis. The Police Chief 65: 46-49

Eck, J. E. and D. Weisburd, eds. Crime and Place. Monsey, NY: Criminal Justice Press and Washington D.C.: Police Executive Research Forum.

Gillespie, Stephen R. (1994). GIS technology benefits: Efficiency and effectiveness gains. Reston, VA: United States Geological Survey. Pertinent to program evaluation in GIS.

Gillespie, Stephen R. (2000). An empirical approach to estimating GIS benefits. Journal of the Urban and Regional Information Systems Association 12(1): 7-14.

Gordon, Wayne (1997). Making the mean streets nice: Computer maps that take the 'random' out of violence. U. S. News and World Report, 121: 63.

Greenwald, Michael J. (2000). Beyond City Limits: The Multi-Jurisdictional Applications of GIS., Journal of the Urban and Regional Information Systems Association 12 (1) 31-43

Harries, Keith (1999). Mapping crime: Principle and practice. Washington, D.C.: U. S. Department of Justice.

Hirschfield, A., P. Brown, and P. Todd (1995). GIS and the analysis of spatially-referenced crime data: Experiences in Merseyside, UK. International Journal of Geographic Information Systems 9(2): 191-210. Reports on use of ArcView in a small to medium jurisdiction in the UK.

LaVigne, Nancy, and Julie Wartell, eds. (1998). Crime mapping case studies: Successes in the field (Volume 1, 1998; Vol. 2, 2000). Washington, DC: Police Executive Research Forum. Sponsored by the Police Executive Research Forum (PERF) and the National Institute of Justice Crime Mapping Research Center (CMRC).

Maltz, Michael D., Andrew C. Gordon, and Warren Friedman (1991). Mapping crime in its community setting: Event geography analysis. NY: Springer-Verlag. Reports a system used by the Chicago Police Department in conjunction with university and community partners, with emphasis on the use of crime mapping as an aid to community policing and community relations. The system is called Microcomputer-Assisted Police Analysis and Deployment System.

Mamalian, C.A., and N.G. LaVigne, et al. (1998). The use of computerized crime mapping by law enforcement: Survey results. Washington D.C.: U.S. Department of Justice, Office of Justice Programs, National Institute of Justice.

Mapping and analysing crime data (2001). New York : Taylor & Francis, forthcoming.

McCoy, Carol (2000). "Mapping in action: Kansas City Community Crime Mapping Initiative," Crime Mapping News, Vol. 2, No. 3 (Summer 20000): 7-8.

McInnis, Logan and Stuart Blundell (2000). Analysis of geographic information systems (GIS) implementations in state and county governments of Montana. Helena, MT: Montana Department of Administration. Available online at http://gis.doa.state.mt.us/Mgic/eacba/Eacbacba.htm. A final report of the Economic Analysis / Cost Benefit Analysis Work Group of the Montana Geographic Information Council, with coverage pertinent to program evaluation of GIS implementation.

Nesbary, Dale (2000). The acquisition of computer-aided dispatch systems: Administrative and political considerations. Unpublished ms. <nesbary@oakland.edu>. Nesbary, former Research Director for the Boston Police Department, describes the implementation of CAD-based GIS in that department.

Newcombe, Tod (1995). The 911 revolution. Governing 7: 56-57.

Rich, T.F. (1995). The Use of Computerized Mapping in Crime Control and Prevention Programs. Washington, DC: U.S. Department of Justice, Office of Justice Programs, National Institute of Justice.

Silva, E. (1998). Cost benefit analysis for geographic information system implementation Justification: literature review. Available online at http://nysgis.nysed.gov/gis/costanal.htm.

Svara, James H. (1996). Regionalism in North Carolina., Working Group on Regions and Regionalism, Department of Political Science and Public Administration, North Carolina State University, Raleigh, North Carolina 27695.

Turnbull, Linda S., Elaine Hallisey Hendrix, and Borden D. Dent, eds. (2000). Atlas of crime : Mapping the criminal landscape. Phoenix, AZ : Oryx Press.

Weisburd, David and Tom McEwen (Editor) (1998). Crime mapping and crime prevention. Monsey, NY: Willow Tree Press/Criminal Justice Press. Crime Prevention series, Vol. 8. This collection includes examples of crime mapping for crime prevention programs in Baltimore, Boston, British Columbia, Jersey City, Philadelphia, Pittsburgh and other jurisdictions.

APPENDIX D: CRIME MAPPING READINESS SELF-ASSESSMENT*

This checklist is designed to provide a preliminary estimate of the readiness of an agency for implementation of a crime mapping system. While the estimates generated by this self-assessment should not be used in isolation, this instrument can provide agencies with a checklist of important management considerations during the early stages of GIS implementation.

The total for questions was a score of __________ .

GENERAL INTERPRETATION OF READINESS SCORE

Part 1:

Find the range within which the Total Score falls.

Part 2:

Find the corresponding number for how a majority of the questions were answered.

* Adapted from an instrument developed by Julie Wartell < julie@ilj.org>, Liz Groff, NIJ <groffe@ojp.usdoj.gov>, and Deborah Thomas (University of Colorado - Denver). A computer program based on the original instrument and making software recommendations may be downloaded from ftp://ftp.ilj.org (click into the GIS Model folder and download all four files, then run setup.exe).

APPENDIX E: TECHNICAL SPECIFICATIONS

The current study focused on managerial considerations and strategies, not on technical specifications and recommendations for establishing GIS. While outside the scope of this report, nonetheless some may find useful the following overview of technical specifications as described by survey respondents. Although configurations for computerized crime mapping will range in complexity from the stand-alone operation to a networked environment, we found in our study that most cities in North Carolina were using a stand-alone configuration. The exception was the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Department, where the crime analysts were extensively networked to various information sources. However, Charlotte-Mecklenburg is a large jurisdiction and is presently considered one of the country's leaders in crime mapping, so their configuration is atypical for the small to medium jurisdiction.

Crime Analyst Debbie Yanik in Asheville, NC described the most basic stand-alone configuration that we found in our North Carolina cities: "a laptop computer, a monitor, a printer, and a plotter." There were similar descriptions from the cities of Cary, Durham, and Wilson. The stand-alone configuration relies on Internet or manual disk-based transfer of data and does not provide direct access to data files on other computers. The stand-alone personal computer is not ideal but will probably be the most likely configuration for crime analysts in the small to medium jurisdiction in the immediate future.

In our survey we did not find analysts using any computer utilizing less than a Pentium-level processor. Belinda Pridgen of the Durham Police Department described her computer hardware as "an IBM Pentium Pro Processor, 200 MHz, and Windows NT with 64 MB of RAM." However, Windows NT is not a requirement as GIS programs are designed to work with a variety of operating systems like Windows 95, 98 and 2000. Additional hardware requirements as mentioned by Ms. Yanik in Asheville are a printer and a plotter. In order to effectively convey the information as a map, a color printer is strongly recommended as the information being presented may loose its visual impact due to a lack of color and, indeed, some visualizations require color. Finally, a plotter is suggested for creating maps for wall displays in the station or for presentations to the city manager, city council, or county commissioners. This minimal configuration reflects the low budgetary priority given GIS at present, not the recommendations of GIS staff themselves. The minimal configuration underpowers GIS and should be seen as a "bare minimum."

In terms of software, the survey found most crime analysts used ArcView (in either versions 3.1 and 3.2). We found only one city in North Carolina using MapInfo Professional. In the national interviews of the top crime-mapping cities, once again we found ArcView to predominate. Although ArcView is clearly the software of choice and as such provides the greatest likely peer support, there was general agreement that jurisdictions starting up should consult local city or county planning and revenue department GIS specialists. In many cases, compatibility with these pre-existing GIS operations will be the determining factor in software choice due to the advantages of using existing baseline maps and having nearby technical consulting.

The following outline lists box requirements for stand-alone operation of ArcView GIS 3.2 and MapInfo Professional GIS. However, the box requirements should be interpreted as "bare minimums" and underpower GIS operations.

ArcView GIS 3.2

Computer: Industry-standard personal computer with at least a Pentium or higher Intel-based microprocessor and a hard disk

Memory: 24 MB RAM (32 MB recommended)

Source- http://www.esri.com/software/arcview/system.html

MapInfo Professional

Computer: Industry-standard personal computer with at least a Pentium or higher Intel-based microprocessor and a hard disk.

Memory: 16 MB RAM (32 Recommended)

Operating System: Runs in Microsoft Windows® 2000, 98, 95 and Windows NT® 4.0

Source- http://www.mapinfo.com