API

Crimespotting data is available to developers and researchers via a simpe web service.

Reports

Individual crime reports can be downloaded in a variety of formats, suitable for use in spreadsheets, feed readers, and more. All requests are simple HTTP GET, and there is no registration or authentiction requirement.

Example

Last ten reports as tab-separated values suitable for use in a spreadsheet:

http://sanfrancisco.crimespotting.org/crime-data?format=tsv&count=10 

Case Number	Description	Date, Time	Weekday	Time	Crime Type	Police Beat	Zip Code	Address	Latitude	Longitude	Accuracy	URL
091120154	Grand theft from person (Arrest, booked)	2009-10-30 20:50:00	Friday	20:50	THEFT				37.756826	-122.406657	Unknown	http://sanfrancisco.crimespotting.org/crime/2009-10-30/Theft/35063
091120182	Possession of meth-amphetamine (Arrest, booked)	2009-10-30 20:38:00	Friday	20:38	NARCOTICS				37.779885	-122.413211	Unknown	http://sanfrancisco.crimespotting.org/crime/2009-10-30/Narcotics/35070
091119890	Attempted robbery on the street with bodily force (Arrest, booked)	2009-10-30 18:33:00	Friday	18:33	ROBBERY				37.782231	-122.410294	Unknown	http://sanfrancisco.crimespotting.org/crime/2009-10-30/Robbery/35069
091119793	Malicious mischief, graffiti (Arrest, cited)	2009-10-30 18:10:00	Friday	18:10	VANDALISM				37.739567	-122.40698	Unknown	http://sanfrancisco.crimespotting.org/crime/2009-10-30/Vandalism/35053
091119577	Aggravated assault with bodily force (Arrest, booked)	2009-10-30 17:20:00	Friday	17:20	SIMPLE ASSAULT				37.784419	-122.407583	Unknown	http://sanfrancisco.crimespotting.org/crime/2009-10-30/Simple_Assault/35068
091119577	Robbery, bodily force (Arrest, booked)	2009-10-30 17:20:00	Friday	17:20	ROBBERY				37.784419	-122.407583	Unknown	http://sanfrancisco.crimespotting.org/crime/2009-10-30/Robbery/35067
091119721	Petty theft shoplifting (Arrest, cited)	2009-10-30 17:05:00	Friday	17:05	THEFT				37.729091	-122.476012	Unknown	http://sanfrancisco.crimespotting.org/crime/2009-10-30/Theft/35072
091119276	Sale of base/rock cocaine (Arrest, booked)	2009-10-30 15:41:00	Friday	15:41	NARCOTICS				37.784866	-122.412784	Unknown	http://sanfrancisco.crimespotting.org/crime/2009-10-30/Narcotics/35075
091119276	Possession of base/rock cocaine for sale (Arrest, booked)	2009-10-30 15:41:00	Friday	15:41	NARCOTICS				37.784866	-122.412784	Unknown	http://sanfrancisco.crimespotting.org/crime/2009-10-30/Narcotics/35074
091119276	Possession of base/rock cocaine (Arrest, booked)	2009-10-30 15:41:00	Friday	15:41	NARCOTICS				37.784866	-122.412784	Unknown	http://sanfrancisco.crimespotting.org/crime/2009-10-30/Narcotics/35073

Arguments

format
Data format to return.
Possible values are:
xml
Raw XML, fast to parse and used by the dynamic map.
csv
Comma-separated values, useful in spreadsheet software.
tsv
Tab-separated values, useful in spreadsheet or database software.
json
GeoJSON, useful with geographic software.
atom
Atom symdication format, useful in feed-reader software such as Bloglines, NetNewsWire, FeedDemon, or Google Reader.
Suggestions for additional formats welcome.
type
Crime type(s) as comma-separated list.
Possible values include: aggravated_assault, murder, robbery, simple_assault, arson, burglary, theft, vandalism, vehicle_theft, alcohol, disturbing_the_peace, narcotics, prostitution, e.g. vehicle_theft or burglary,theft,vandalism.
Also acceptable are the short versions of each crime type from the key: AA, Mu, Ro, SA, Ar, Bu, Th, Va, VT, Al, DP, Na, Pr, note that these are case-sensitive.
dstart
Start date of included reports.
Must be in YYYY-MM-DD form, e.g. April 20th, 2009 is 2009-04-20.
If dtstart is provided, this is ignored.
Defaults to one week in the past.
dend
End date of included reports.
Must be in YYYY-MM-DD form, e.g. April 30th, 2009 is 2009-04-30.
If dtend is provided, this is ignored.
Defaults to now.
dtstart
Start datetime of included reports.
Must be in YYYY-MM-DDTHH:MM:SSZ (GMT) or YYYY-MM-DDTHH:MM:SS+HHMM form, e.g. April 30th, 2009 8:00am PDT is 2009-04-30T08:00:00-0700.
Overrides dstart if provided.
Defaults to one week in the past.
dtend
End datetime of included reports.
Must be in YYYY-MM-DDTHH:MM:SSZ (GMT) or YYYY-MM-DDTHH:MM:SS+HHMM form, e.g. April 30th, 2009 2:00pm PDT is 2009-04-30T14:00:00-0700.
Overrides dend if provided.
Defaults to now.
bbox
Geographical bounding box of included reports.
Must be in west,south,east,north form, where values are floating point, e.g. downtown Oakland is -122.2777,37.7993,-122.2682,37.8077.
GetLatLon.com can help you figure out specific geographical coordinates.
count
Number of reports to return.
Defaults to 20 if omitted.
offset
Offset in the list of reports to return.
Defaults to 0 if omitted.