Data source categories
Every event in the platform is attributed to a source, and sources are classified into a two-level ontology.
Knowing which sources sit behind a location is how you judge how much confidence to place in its data. The Data Source module in the analytic panel shows what is contributing at any given location.
IDs verified against the live platform
The IDs below were read from the platform's own source-category response, not transcribed from a document.
Not all sources are confirmed incidents
Local Police records are confirmed incidents reported by the agency with jurisdiction — this is what the platform shows by default.
911 Calls for Service are calls that resulted in a dispatch. A single incident can generate several calls, and many calls resolve to nothing, so call volume runs far higher than incident volume. Worth knowing if you ever see the two compared.
Parent categories
| ID | Category | Definition |
|---|---|---|
14 |
Media | Independently-operated businesses including newspapers and media companies. Does not include state-owned news agencies. |
15 |
Law Enforcement | Local and national police departments and law enforcement agencies. |
16 |
Government | Government-owned news agencies, websites, reports, and databases operated by a local, regional, or national government. Excludes police. |
17 |
Non-Profit (NGO) | Legal entities organized and operated for a collective, public, or social benefit rather than to generate profit. |
23 |
Special Interest Group | Political movements, activist movements, and unions. |
18 |
Unassigned | Newly ingested data not yet mapped to a source category. |
Subcategories
Media — parent 14
| ID | Category | Definition |
|---|---|---|
1 |
News Media | General news media including international, national, and local news sources. |
2 |
Social Media | Digital platforms enabling mass peer-to-peer communication. |
Law Enforcement — parent 15
| ID | Category | Definition |
|---|---|---|
4 |
National Police | A country's national law enforcement agency, responsible for law enforcement across the nation. |
5 |
Local Police | City, county, region, or district-level police operating in specific communities without national jurisdiction. |
6 |
University Police | Police, public safety, and campus security departments protecting a university or college campus. |
7 |
911 Calls for Service | Calls to law enforcement, fire, or emergency assistance resulting in service being dispatched. |
Government — parent 16
| ID | Category | Definition |
|---|---|---|
8 |
State-Affiliated Media | Government-owned or government-run news and media organizations. |
9 |
National Government | National departments and agencies — statistical offices, ministries, central government. |
10 |
Local Government | Regional and municipal departments, agencies, and statistical offices. |
Non-Profit — parent 17
| ID | Category | Definition |
|---|---|---|
11 |
Non-Profit (NGO) | Legal entities organized for collective, public, or social benefit. |
Special Interest Group — parent 23
| ID | Category | Definition |
|---|---|---|
20 |
Political Movement | Political parties, politically motivated armed groups, and political movements. |
21 |
Union | Labor unions, trade unions, and workers' organizations. |
22 |
Activist Movement | Groups promoting or intervening in social, political, economic, or environmental reform. |
Unassigned — parent 18
| ID | Category | Definition |
|---|---|---|
19 |
Unassigned | Awaiting classification. Remapped on a weekly cadence by an automated source mapper. |
Unassigned is temporary, not permanent
Events here are queued for classification, not uncategorized forever.
Which sources feed what
Crime categories are fed primarily by law enforcement sources. An agency's confirmed record is the appropriate basis for a crime statistic.
Civil unrest categories are fed primarily by media, government, NGO, and special interest group sources. Police departments are rarely the reporting mechanism for a protest or an armed clash — unrest coverage would not exist without these sources.
Neither type is inherently better. They answer different questions. What matters is knowing which you have included: an analysis that silently mixes confirmed police incidents with dispatch calls is not measuring what its author thinks it is measuring.