BALTIMORE--(BUSINESS WIRE)--SpotCrime – the most comprehensive online source for crime data – has signed a deal with national residential real estate website Trulia to provide prospective home buyers, sellers, and renters with comprehensive crime data in 50 major metropolitan areas nationwide. SpotCrime will power more than 90 percent of Trulia’s crime maps.
SpotCrime also announced that it will map crime data for Clarity Media Group, which owns the Washington Examiner and the San Francisco Examiner newspapers.
While the agreement to provide crime data to the Examiner newspapers is similar to partnerships SpotCrime previously has forged with other major U.S. media companies – including Gannett, Sinclair, Belo Television, Hearst, Newport Television, Media General, and Capitol Broadcasting – the Trulia deal is “the first of its kind,” according to SpotCrime Founder and President Colin Drane.
“I really believe we are just beginning to scratch the surface with respect to the number of ways in which crime data can be used,” says Drane. “SpotCrime was founded on the principle that information is power. With our information, citizens’ awareness of their surroundings will increase and they will be able to make safer decisions. As a result, we are committed to constantly finding new and innovative ways to provide timely crime information to the public.”
Through its proprietary model, SpotCrime pulls crime incident data from multiple sources, including state and local police departments and validated news sources, to produce a comprehensive record of local crime information.
The Trulia system, to be known as Crime Maps, allows users to search a year’s worth of crime data on a block-by-block level. Crime statistics are displayed in a “heat map,” with low-crime areas shaded green and high-crime areas in red.
Over the past two years, Baltimore-based SpotCrime has become the most visited crime mapping website in the U.S. by a factor of two. The company currently sends 3 million email alerts monthly and has surpassed 250,000 subscribers.
SpotCrime also has seen its use skyrocket on DIRECTV. According to Drane, DIRECTV customers have made SpotCrime’s TV App the second fastest growing applications offered by the popular video service, behind only the DIRECTV Facebook Application.
The TV App provides up-to-date details about actual crime incidents that have taken place, as well as crime mapping for specific areas.
SpotCrime also has launched an iPhone application which is now available to iPad users. In addition to providing crime data by proximity of date, the SpotCrime iPhone app allows users to obtain detailed descriptions of the crimes listed and share crime incidents with others via email.
Drane encourages individuals to sign-up for SpotCrime’s free crime mapping service. SpotCrime sends its subscribers regular email alerts detailing reported crimes within a two-mile radius of a designated location, such as their home or workplace.
Individuals can also access MyLocalCrime, a website powered by SpotCrime to provide a user-friendly snapshot of crime occurrences in the blocks surrounding a specific address, such as an individual’s home or workplace. Using cloud computing, MyLocalCrime is capable of quickly delivering crime information anywhere in the country.
Drane emphasizes that no taxpayer dollars are used for SpotCrime and the crime statistics available on the site are made available free to police departments and the public.
For more information about SpotCrime and how to sign up to receive regular SpotCrime reports, visit the company’s website at www.spotcrime.com.