

Interactive NYC Homicide Map - asnyder
http://projects.nytimes.com/crime/homicides/map

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frisco
One thing that jumps out at me, being from NYC, is the complete lack of
anything in Central Park. There's this widespread belief that you can't go in
the park after dark, since it's /so dangerous/, but apparently statistically
that's not the case.

The one thing it's missing that would be neat to see is color-by-motive, since
one of their motive bins is "Gang." It would be interesting to see if they
common beliefs about the location of gang activity also holds any water.

The NY Times has always been hugely impressive in their use of data and web
technologies, and this is no exception.

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chops
_There's this widespread belief that you can't go in the park after dark,
since it's /so dangerous/, but apparently statistically that's not the case._

Could that widespread belief perhaps have led to folks deciding not to go to
the park after dark, though?

Or am I completely off-base? I'm not from NY (been there twice, and love it),
so I have no idea. Do people go to the park after dark pretty regularly?

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madmanslitany
No, I'm pretty sure people don't. In general, I think the attitude is to avoid
parks at night. I would imagine that it's hard for police to maintain
visibility that well when there's all kinds of bushes and trees in the way,
not that much ambient light, and a lot of ground for them to cover.

I have also heard that Central Park has improved tremendously in the past
decade.

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asnyder
This would be really useful if it tied into all crimes, not just homicides.
Furthermore, an option to go beyond NYC and tie into national police databases
would be very desirable. I could see this becoming a very useful when
considering moving.

A heatmap feature would also be nice. Similar to a real life Sim City map.

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brandnewlow
<http://everyblock.com>

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johnnybgoode
What's interesting is that we've come to see a high murder rate in big cities
as natural and expected. It wasn't always like this. (And yes, I know it was
even worse at one time.)

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TrevorJ
I know it is a big city, and yes, I must be naive, but I am actually pretty
floored by the number of homicides that occurred each year.

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dantheman
The map shows 3402 homicides from a 6 year period, an average of 500 a year.

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kingkongrevenge
If I recall correctly, in 1900 there were something like 50 homicides in
Manhattan with roughly the same population and much more poverty.

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docomo
As a European I find it interesting that blacks comprise 61 percent of both
perpetrators and victims and Hispanics make up most of the rest. And even more
interesting is the fact that ethnicity is reported openly -- that would never
happen in my country, even if most people would understand anyway that the
majority of perpetrators are Arabs and Africans.

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dbul
It's interesting that Manhattan has so many murders, diverse ones at that.
Consider Philadelphia:

<http://www.philly.com/inquirer/multimedia/15818502.html>

In the rich areas like Center City, Manayunk, and Mount Airy there are few
murders.

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sethg
When I saw the words "interactive" and "homicide" so close together, I really
expected to see something different....

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staunch
LA Times has had something like this for quite some time:
<http://www.latimes.com/news/local/crime/homicidemap/>

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quizbiz
The Wall Street Journal should be taking notes.

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keltecp11
I think most of you might have overlooked the fact that this was created by
the NYTimes... the publications need more of this stuff. It is so fricken
cool.

Investing in Interactivity is a great solution to survive.

~~~
mikedouglas
Ever since Khoi Vinh joined NYT in 2006, they've been producing some of the
best interactive design on the web. One of my recent favorites[1] showed how
tennis strategy was affected by the different surfaces.

[1]:
[http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2007/08/25/sports/tennis/...](http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2007/08/25/sports/tennis/20070827_NADAL_GRAPHIC.html)

~~~
s-phi-nl
I was impressed with their interactive graphic of the Buffalo plane crash[1].
I'm pleased to hear that such graphics are common.

[1]
[http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2009/02/13/nyregion/Buffa...](http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2009/02/13/nyregion/Buffalo-
Crash.html)

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mynameishere
Don't let any visitors from Mars look at this.

