Review: Helpful information not found in most guidebooks
Rating: 5 out of 5
Date: 05 27, 2012
One caveat: I have only been to San Francisco as a casual tourist, so I am not qualified to vouch for the map's accuracy regarding the most crime-prone areas. I am reviewing the map based only on the presentation style and apparent thoroughness, and the ease of reading and interpreting the included maps.Having said that, I think that Michael Gard has done a creditable job of researching and presenting information that should be helpful to anyone concerned about their personal safety while visiting San Francisco. The nine detailed maps of San Francisco clearly delineate the areas with higher crime rates. (Note that the identified areas are not necessarily high crime sections, only that a person is more likely to become a victim of crime, based on the author's research.) I viewed the maps on three different devices, with varying ease of viewing.On my Kindle Fire, the color maps were legible enough, but double-tapping expanded the map to twice normal size, and if more details were needed, pinch-and-zoom worked well.On my e-ink Kindle 3 (same as a Kindle Keyboard), the maps were in grayscale but were readable. Pushing up on the 5-way controller brought up a magnifier icon, and pressing the center switch enlarged the map to a point where I could read it comfortably.I also viewed the crime maps on my Android smartphone using the Android Kindle app. As with the Kindle Fire, the maps were colorful and sharp, but were too small to read until I double-tapped to enlarge the image. As with the Kindle Fire, pinch-and-zoom also worked.The author also offered some practical "Personal Safety Advice." This consisted of mostly commonsense things ("Carry a noise-maker such as a whistle"), but were worth noting, especially for people visiting the city, who take the normal precautions at home, but let their guard down when vacationing and sightseeing.All-in-all, the "Stay Safe Crime Map of San Francisco" looks like a very helpful tool for visitors to the city, perhaps even for locals who aren't familiar with all parts of town. I'm looking forward to seeing other city maps in this series.