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Mapping crime data in R: Interactive introduction

9 Mar 2026 11:00 am - 12:30 pm
Online
Training
Crime
Data skills
Workshop

Unlock the power of crime mapping in R

Do you want to turn raw crime data into powerful, visual insights?

These free online workshops will show you how to uncover geographic patterns in crime using R, one of the most versatile tools for data analysis and visualisation. You’ll learn how to map open-source police crime data, combine it with spatial datasets, and produce professional-quality crime maps that reveal meaningful trends.

This is the first of two mapping crime data in R workshops and will cover some fundamental theories and concepts surrounding GIS and spatial data. The second session will be a live code demonstration using R and RStudio.

What you'll learn

  • Understand the core concepts of GIS and how they relate to crime data.
  • Work with open-source spatial data (including shapefiles and census data).
  • Learn how to download, import, and process spatial datasets in R.
  • Create interactive maps using ggplot2, sf, and tmap.
  • Join crime data with spatial boundaries to visualise rates and distributions.
  • Explore classification methods for mapping and interpreting patterns.
  • Get a concise introduction to spatial autocorrelation, interpolation, and multivariate mapping.

Key features

  • Interactive presentation: Participate in live surveys and visual demos to strengthen understanding.
  • Hands-on coding session: Follow a live RStudio walkthrough, with downloadable scripts and data.
  • Pre-workshop resources: Get setup instructions, GitHub materials, and reading suggestions in advance.
  • Troubleshooting in practice: Learn how to handle real coding issues and data challenges as they arise.

Prerequisites

  • Familiarity with R: Participants should know how to set the working directory, read in data, write basic functions, and save files.
  • Installed Software: R and RStudio should be installed and operational.
  • No prior GIS or spatial data experience is required.

Target audience: Researchers, analysts, and anyone interested in exploring the geographic dimension of crime and spatial data. No prior experience with GIS or mapping is required.

Additional information

Coding materials, including detailed setup instructions, will be available from mid-February via our GitHub page.

This workshop will take place on 9 and 10 March 2026, leading up to the Crime Surveys User Conference on 11 March 2026, offering participants 3 days of insights into crime data analysis and research.

Presenter: Nadia Kennar, UK Data Service.

This event will be livestreamed on our UK Data Service YouTube channel but the chat will be disabled. By registering and attending the Zoom event you will be able to ask questions and interact.

Recordings of UK Data Service events are made available on our YouTube channel and, together with the slides, on our past events pages soon after the event has taken place.