Geographers Map Meth Lab Locations

What if, along with finding restaurants and displaying driving directions, Google Maps could predict the most likely places to find crank?This summer, geographers at Kansas State University used sophisticated mapping tools to study the distribution patterns of seized methamphetamine labs in the Midwest. Though long thought to be a rural problem, the “meth” labs throughout the state were discovered mostly in urban areas with low housing values, educational levels, and employment rates.Geographer Max Lu, who led the new research, hopes it will one day help law enforcement.Read more at...Seed, September 2006.