Robberies in the U-District in 2020

Examining the most likely areas of targeted robberies:

This GeoNarrative is used to explore the incidents of robberies that occurred in the University District area in Seattle, WA with a particular interest in areas between NE 42nd and 50th ST. As a current student at UW, I chose this topic of two reasons: To map out and see the most likely occurrences of robberies near the UW campus, and to see how the COVID-19 pandemic and shift to online learning has affected the occurrences of robberies in this student-populated area. This GeoNarrative will include 3 different maps: One map showing the robbery occurrences during the first half of the year, one map showing the robbery occurrences during the second half of the year, and a third map showing the combined total robberies in the U-District area during 2020. After, I have also included an interactive map using a satellite basemap to show a real-time perspective of robbery occurrences. Finally, this GeoNarrative also includes a real-life walkthrough video of the U-District for viewers who may be unfamiliar with the area. Using the skills I learned this quarter, this GeoNarrative was produced using HTML, CSS, and JavaScript (primarily the Leaflet library).

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Jan. 1st - June 30th Robberies 2020

This first map shows the incidents of robberies that occurred between the dates January 1st, 2020 – June 30th, 2020 in the U District. Overall, there were a total number of 37 robbery occurrences that happened during this period. Based on the map, I noticed that there were not as many clusters of robberies that happened near the same geographic location, and instead, the occurrences were more spread out than I had thought. Of the total robberies, you can see that most of them occurred between NE 42nd St. and NE 50th St. Of the 37 robberies, I considered a total of 15 falling within the zone between NE 42nd and 50th St. or about 40.5% of total incident occurrences.

37 Total Robberies

40.5% Robberies Between NE 42nd and 50th St.

July 1st - December 31st Robberies 2020

This second map shows the incidents of robberies of occurred between the dates of July 1st, 2020 – December 31st, 2020 in the U District. Overall, there were 51 total occurrences of robberies that happened during this period. Based on this map, I can see that there is an increase in the clustering of the data, with most of the robbery occurrences occurring between NE 42nd and 50th St. Of the 51 robberies, I considered a total of 22 falling within the zone between NE 42nd and 50th St. or about 43.1% of total incident occurrences.

51 Total Robberies

43.1% Robberies Between NE 42nd and 50th St.

37.8% Increase in Robberies Occurrences

2020 Full Year Robberies Map

This third map shows the total number of incidents of robberies that occurred during the 2020 calendar year. Overall, there was a total of 88 robberies that were reported during the 2020 year. Of the 88 total robberies, 29 fell within the zone between NE 42nd and 50th St. However, there were a total of 37 total robberies that occurred in this area during the 2020 calendar year, meaning that there were several instances where an approximated geographic point was robbed multiple times throughout the year. Of the total of 88 robberies during 2020, there were 37 instances, or approximately 42% of cases, that occurred between the zones of NE 42nd and 50th St.

88 Total Robberies

42% Robberies Between NE 42nd and 50th St.

Satellite View of Robberies 2020

U District Walkthrough Video

Final Thoughts

I believe that the transition to online learning as a result from the COVID-19 pandemic resulted in a decrease in the total incidents of robberies that occurred during the 2020 year. In March, all students at the UW were asked no longer to come to class in-person, and therefore, there were fewer potential victims to be robbed. However, as the economy began to open back up towards the later half of the year, an uptick of robberies can be seen. I believe this to be due to the increase in people who are outside and within the zone between NE 42nd and 50th St. during this time period.