The focus of recent debates over geographic data infrastructures has tended to be at the national, pan-European, or global levels. Relatively less attention has been paid to the development of local data infrastructures even though this is the level where they have the potential of making the...

The purpose of this paper is to compare two methods for the identification of priority areas for intervention and funding based on quantifiable assessments of multiple social need. This is an increasingly important aspect of evidence-based policy in a range of social programmes both in Britain,...

In this paper we present the findings of a study undertaken by the Joint Research Centre of the European Commission in collaboration with the regional authority of Lombardy, in northern Italy, on the socioeconomic impact of the spatial data infrastructure (SDI) of that region. The study took...

Police forces responsible for large metropolitan areas in England and Wales have claimed that within certain parts of their urban areas there exist high-intensity crime areas (HIAs). These are areas that raise special policing problems because of the particularly violent forms of crime sometimes...

The increased availability of digital data and the increased scrutiny of public expenditure are opening new opportunities for detailed spatial analysis of social behaviour and policy initiatives to target resources where they are most needed. Two such policy areas in which the use of GIS...

Cities are central to the economic and social development of European society, not only because over 80% of European citizens live in urban areas, but also because cities are at the same time centres of production, innovation, employment, and culture, and loci of segregation, deprivation, and...

High-intensity crime areas are areas where high levels of violent crime coexist with large numbers of offenders, thereby creating an area that may present significant policing problems. In an earlier paper, the authors analysed police perceptions of high-intensity crime areas, and now extend...