Crime mapping and its extension to social science analysis

The purpose of this article is to present the definitions of 21 geographic information system (GIS) functions used in crime mapping and to propose how these functions may be applied more generally to social science research. Most social data are spatial, but this fact has been largely ignored in soc iological and social science research. More extensive use of both spatial s tatistics and spatial analysis in sociology seems likely, and hopefully thi s article will stimulate social scientist readers to explore using GIS in t heir research.