GlossaryCivic Informer product vocabulary
Activity Map
The Activity Map is Civic Informer's geographic view of selected public-safety records in a supported edition.
The Activity Map is Civic Informer's geographic view of selected public-safety records in a supported edition. It helps readers see where published activity is represented under the product's location and privacy rules. A marker is a published representation of a source location; it should not be read as an exact household address or a complete measure of risk.
What the position means
Civic Informer's methodology describes block-level generalization and exclusions applied to public layers. The edition guide describes how the map fits alongside the report and email. Read its positions with both the source coverage and location-generalization rules in mind.
A point can represent a generalized location rather than a precise event position. Counts can also depend on filters and the selected period. Missing or withheld records do not become zero activity merely because no marker is visible.
Example
Hypothetical example: A published record appears near the center of a street block. A reader assumes the nearest building is the incident address and identifies its occupants.
That inference is unsupported. The displayed position is generalized under the methodology. Its purpose is to show activity at a broader location level, not to identify a property or person. The marker also does not establish who was involved or whether an offense was proved.
Common confusion
An activity map displays selected records. A heat map or choropleth can aggregate information differently. Similar visual density does not establish identical data or methods.
A map of reported events is not a forecast, a safety score, or a complete inventory of incidents.
Reading scope
Check the date range, active layers, source agency, update information, and location notes. Compare only like record types. A dense area of markers can reflect publication practices, destinations attracting visitors, or overlapping generalized points; interpretation requires more than appearance alone.