NCJ Number
99915
Journal
Computers, Environment and Urban Systems Volume: 8 Issue: 3 Dated: (1983) Pages: 133-173
Date Published
1983
Length
49 pages
Annotation
This booklet provides an overview of the makeup and capabilities of the Geographic Base File/Dual Independent Map Encoding (GBF/DIME) system, which can be used by police to analyze the geographic distribution of crime.
Abstract
The GBF/DIME is discussed from its historical beginnings, actual structure, description, and makeup, to the process used to bring it up to date with changes in urban growth. The extraction of needed DIME file records is examined. A step-by-step approach takes the reader through 'admatch' techniques, from the reduction of the file to a manageable size to the addition of local 'geo-codes.' As an example of its use, the 'geo-processing' of data files by the Oklahoma City government is probed from the pre-DIME to the post-DIME periods. Maps generated from the data and graphs showing the resultant information illustrate what can be produced from 'geo-coded' information. DIME applications in other cities are also portrayed, with analysis of uses ranging from analysis of new building permits to drug abuse patterns. Potential uses of the GBF/DIME for political analysis, planning, crime prevention, and human service distribution are examined, and other potential uses by nongovernmental agencies and private firms are discussed. Also, potential uses of the DIME on small computer systems such as microcomputers are examined. Forty-three references are listed.