As promised when I introduced my partnership with Finetoothcog, web programming guru Michael Jones of Code in Motion has been hard at work trying to integrate your stolen bike listings into a Google Map interface.
It’s not quite fully functional just yet, but this morning he sent me over a sneak preview of an actual Google Map that he has populated with 113 stolen bike listings from September (believe it or not, we’ve had 174 bikes listed this month, but only 113 of them had adequate address information).
Once fully set up, this will be very cool. We’ll be able to easily see stolen bike “hot-spots” in real time and the data could be used by law enforcement personnel to do enforcement actions in certain areas. The data will also allow the cops and bike advocates to work with businesses in hot-spot areas to implement deterrants.
Michael should have this functionality set up for new listings very soon. He’s also working on some other cool upgrades to the service and is hoping to find some grant money to keep making it better. Stay tuned for more developments…
Hmmm, I see two out of 113 thefts in SW Portland (outside downtown).
So minimal bicycling in SW, or not many thieves in SW, or almost everyone in SW locks up with good locks.