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Decades ofcriminological research have identified a variety of independent variables that correlate significantly with particular crime outcomes. Less is understood about how these correlates, or factors, of crime can be operationalized to maps in ways that best represent their spatial influences on the emergence of nearby crime events. A geographic information system (GIS) enables the exploration of spatial influence, which refers to the way in which features of a landscape affect places throughout the landscape. For example, empirical knowledge that bars correlate with locations of violent crimes can be mapped in several ways to show more or less crime-prone places, such as places with bars, places within certain distances from bars, or places with higher concentrations of bars. Rather than just a feature's presence, its influence on space is important because context affects criminal behavior. GIS enables …