Utilizing GIS for Crime Mapping to Identify Crime Hotspots in the Urban Context of Kerala

Title

Utilizing GIS for Crime Mapping to Identify Crime Hotspots in the Urban Context of Kerala

Creator

Thomas, Jisty; Mohan, Karthik

Description

This study employs Geographic Information Systems (GIS) for crime mapping to pinpoint hotspots within the Museum police stations jurisdiction in Trivandrum, Kerala, which saw the highest number of crimes reported in 2022, as per the National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB), making it an important issue to be tackled. Trivandrum was chosen for its high population density, aligning with criminological theories linking dense urban areas to increased criminal activity. The jurisdiction of the Museum police station area was explicitly selected due to its significant incidence of various crimes as per the data available from the Kerala police website while comparing it with the overall 21 jurisdiction boundaries. Data collection encompassing seven crime categories as per the analysis of previous literature studies, which includesrape, theft, molestation, kidnapping, murder, hurt, auto theft, and robberywas meticulously gathered from the Museum police station and organized using Excel, then analysed through GIS techniques. These methods included Average Nearest Neighbours Analysis to identify crime pattern types, Kernel Density Estimation to visualize crime density maps, Choropleth mapping to highlight wards with heightened crime rates, and Standard Deviation Ellipse Analysis to explore trends in crime distribution. These analytical approaches and their comparison with buffered maps facilitated a comprehensive spatial examination, uncovering distinct crime hotspots and illuminating factors contributing to their concentration. The study concludes by pointing out the main vulnerable areas of the study with the help of the previously mentioned mapping analysis, helping in providing suitable areas to be focused on to provide design strategies to curb crime. The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd. 2026.

Source

Advances in 21st Century Human Settlements;Volume;Part F1167;pp.195-215

Date

01-01-2026

Publisher

Springer

Subject

Crime mapping; GIS; Hotspots; Population density; Spatialanalysis

Coverage

Thomas J., School of Architecture, Christ University, Karnataka, Bengaluru, India; Mohan K., Department of Architecture and Planning, College of Engineering Trivandrum, Kerala, Thiruvananthapuram, India

Rights

Restricted Access; Hardcopy may be available in the library

Relation

ISSN: 21982546;

Format

online

Language

English

Type

Book chapter

Identifier

https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-96-8789-3_10

https://www.scopus.com/pages/publications/105022711748?origin=resultslist