Ever wonder if you’re likely to be mugged, robbed, assaulted, raped or murdered when you walk out the front door? In an era of high crime, I think most of us do at some point. If you carry an iPhone, SpotCrime tries to answer your question.
The SpotCrime iPhone application is “a mobile police blotter that geo-locates users, scours cop reports, blogs and newspapers for recent criminal activity and then sends out a feed customized to a two mile radius surrounding each registered user’s addresses.” That from the company’s press release sent out today.
The application, which only serves New York City initially, maps out all kinds of criminal incidents on a Google Maps interface, differentiating crime types with unique icons. Hold you iPhone vertically and you’ll see a list of the 20 most recent crimes near you.
If you don’t have an iPhone, or if you do but don’t reside in NYC, SpotCrime maps 200 cities in the United States and can alert any mobile phone via email or text message of nearby crimes. You can sign up for the service on the SpotCrime website or download the iPhone app from the App Store.
I should also mention that social media buffs can follow SpotCrime on Twitter or become a fan on Facebook.
