Houston Crime Maps

HPD posted the new stats on the 18th, and I updated the database on the 19th but forgot to blog. Be safe out there.

I've added RSS feeds to the site -- you may now subscribe to a feed for your neighborhood or ZIP code so you know what the latest crimes in your area are. For example, this is the RSS feed for 77002; most browsers have functionality that indicates when an RSS feed is available. I'll post again when HPD has provided stats for July.

Right on the heels of the move to my new server, HPD posted the June crime data. I've updated the database; statistics updates will be ongoing through tomorrow. Stay safe and cool this summer.

I've finally moved the server to more suitable location: Amazon's Elastic Computing Cloud (EC2). Hopefully this will resolve the intermittent downtime issues caused by the very old version of Linux at the last server, and allow me to rapidly prototype and deploy new features/services.

HPD posted May crimes on the 18th, and I updated the database yesterday. Stay cool and be safe.

The April crimes were published by HPD on the 16th. I imported the data into the database today and Im in the process of updating the statistics.

Still no move to the new server, hopefully I'll be able to do that soon.

As I'm sure y'all noticed, this site has been experiencing intermittent downtime. The problems stem from the fact this server is old -- four years to be exact. When I return to Houston from San Francisco (I presented at O'Reilly's Where 2.0 Conference), I'll migrate to a new server. Thanks for your patience.

It's been a busy week, as HPD posted the March stats on the 18th. I've imported them into the database and updated the statistics -- enjoy and be safe (and pardon any downtime as I break in the new software).

I've gone under the hood and redone almost all of the internals of this site. Specifically, I'm now using GeoDjango -- a geographic web framework I developed, inspired by my initial experiences creating Houston Crime Maps. In addition, the PostGIS spatial database is now used on the backend with OpenLayers drawing the maps in the browser. Other new features include visualizations courtesy of Google Charts (including historical charts of crime for a particular region), month pages, year summaries, and violent/non-violent crime breakdowns.

I've (finally) updated the database with crimes from January & February. Enjoy the new features and stats, and be safe!

Recent problems with the connection at the new data center (that recent wind storm) have made me reconsider; a more distributed solution will be used. Unfortunately, this means more delays -- and HPD just posted February stats on the 20th. I don't want to set a firm date, but let's just say it'll be worth the wait.

The January crime data set was posted by HPD on February 18th, but will be delayed until after I move the site to its new server. The data format has changed a bit -- for example, individual case numbers are now provided. Part of the delay has been faulty computer components in the new server, but otherwise the change should occur no later than the end of the month.

The Houston Crime Maps server will be moving from Virginia to its new home in Houston. The site is moving to a new data center located within Empire Tools. This finally gives me the chance to move the site to new software I've written and actually start experimenting with different ways to visualize crime in the city. I'll post more as necessary -- but the switch should be seamless.

While the HPD originally posted the crime statistics on the 18th, the data set was completely invalid because either (a) it was a repeat of the November dataset or (b) all the crime dates were incorrectly labeled as being in November. Regardless, corrected crime data was posted on the 24th. The corrected data was successfully imported into the database today. Enjoy the new stats and stay safe.

While HPD updated crimes a week ago, I've noticed peculiarities in the data. Specifically, the dates for the crimes appear to be for November rather than December. I'm working on investigating the irregularities, and will try and post an update soon. Until then, please stay safe.

I updated the database with the crimes from November on the 24th (made available by HPD on the 20th) -- but I forgot to post an update in the blog. Happy holidays, be safe and enjoy the stats.

I imported the October crimes yesterday & updated the statistics. Thanks to the HPD who provided the data a full 11 days before the end of the month -- their turnaround time has been consistently improving. Be safe, and enjoy the new stats...

My data center experienced power difficulties late last night, and the site was down all morning. Since Server Beach (my provider) was acquired by Peer1, the dependability of the network has dropped significantly. This is the third time my data center has experienced issues with their power supplies in their Virginia data center within the span of 15 months -- totally unacceptable. Look somewhere else for your hosting solutions.

HPD posted the September crimes yesterday and were imported into the database this morning. I'm still working on the site -- hopefully I will have something new to show off soon. Be safe, and enjoy the new stats...

HPD bestowed us with an early gift this month, publishing the crime statistics only yesterday. The stats were imported into the database within 2 hours of their publication -- a new record for me (I had to make up for my slack the past two months). Be safe, enjoy, and still stay tuned!

I added the July crimes on the 24th, but forgot to post an update here. Enjoy the stats, be safe, and stay tuned for updates...

HPD provided the June crime data set on July 24th -- a nice surprise to get the data a full week before the end of the month. The data was imported last night, and the stats should be updated by the end of the day. Enjoy!

HPD was late this time, not providing the crime data for May until July 9th (when promised at the end of June). I imported the crimes into the database yesterday -- the site now tracks over 300,000 crimes. Enjoy the new stats and be safe!

April crimes have been imported into the database -- same day service ain't bad. Site still hasn't migrated to PostGIS/GeoDjango, but I'm working on it.

The crimes for March, 2007 have been added to the database. Alas, I was not first this time around, but hopefully I'll be on top of it for April. Enjoy!

The crimes for February, 2007 have been added to the database after their release today (first again!). I'm currently working on a re-factor of the site to migrate the data to the spatial database PostGIS. As part of this migration, I've become a main contributor to the GeoDjango project, which strives to make it trivial to create spatially-enabled web applications using Django. When the migration is complete, there will be many possibilities for interesting analysis and data mining (i.e. the capability of predictive analysis -- or where crimes are likely to happen in the future).

Stay tuned, and pardon the dust as I complete this transition. As always, enjoy the new data and be safe...

I've improved the browsing interface so that it is easier to browse crimes using the 'Next' and 'Prev' buttons. Thanks to the magic of AJAX, browsing through crimes should be much faster. As such, this site performs best with modern browsers, particularly Mozilla Firefox or Internet Explorer 7.

The first batch of crime data for 2007 has arrived. Kudos to the HPD for making the crime statistics available much earlier than usual; I hope this trend continues. There should be some UI changes in the next few weeks, I'll post when I update. Everyone be safe and enjoy the data.

The crimes for December, 2006 have been imported into the database. This completes the crime statistics for 2006 -- with a total of 106,608 crimes. Again, I've beaten those other sites to the punch. Enjoy the new data...

HPD got around to posting the November crime statistics today, and I've imported them into the database. Looks like the holidays backed them up a bit, as these stats were expected at the end of December. Enjoy!

The site is not forgotten -- I'm currently waiting for the November crime data from the Houston Police Department. While the data was promised in December, it still is not available. Street browsing will be coming Real Soon Now, as soon as I can find a sensible way to browse the many Houston streets.

Executive summary: updates for new crime data ASAP, street browsing will take longer.

Crimes for October, 2006 have been added to the database.

Welcome Google Maps Mania visitors! Take some time to explore and look around. New features like integration with Google Earth, street browsing, and an interactive district finder will become available within the next month, so stay tuned for updates.