AxisPhilly launches: use this tool to visualize changes in crime by neighborhood

AxisPhilly, the local nonprofit news organization that now manages OpenDataPhilly, launched its news website along with new stories and a crime data visualization tool.

This tool, built by AxisPhilly developer Casey Thomas, lets you see changes in crime over the years, broken down by neighborhood and further broken down by type of crime. There’s also an accompanying story that provides an analysis of the data — serious, or “Part 1,” violent crimes have dropped overall. Thomas used the city’s recently released crime data and Azavea’s city neighborhood data.

Use the tool here. Check out AxisPhilly’s redesign here.

Formerly known as the Philadelphia Public Interest Information Network, Old City-based AxisPhilly now has a staff of eight, including GirlDevelopIt instructor and local tech community member Pam Selle, who will act as news app developer and community evangelist. The site’s (responsive!) redesign was done in house by Thomas with help from part-time staffer Jeff Frankl, said AxisPhilly founding CEO Neil Budde.

The launch of the site is the first firm look at the direction of Axis Philly, which, as PPIIN, last year spun out of a $2.4 million William Penn Foundation-funded effort called the Center for Public Interest Journalism housed at Temple University’s journalism school. On launch, the site features original reporting from its four reporters, three of whom have local print news backgrounds, and data-driven visualizations and tools, informed from Thomas and Selle.

Data journalism is a coveted craft at the moment, so the org’s colorful visualizations and informative applications will likely be a fast ticket to initial awareness of their work. The effort’s launch is funded by that initial grant in partnership with CPIJ.