The website gives figures for all crime including burglary, robbery, violence, vehicle crime and anti-social behaviour.
Those attempting to use it in London, Yorkshire, Humberside and Manchester were unable to access the detailed map.
Instead they were met with an automated message saying it was 'temporarily unavailable'.
The website message said: "Due to very high popularity users may experience temporary intermittent issues accessing this site. The issues are being worked on and will be resolved as soon as possible."
It was launched today by the National Policing Improvement Agency (NPIA).
The information is so detailed that users can get statistics for their street, compare one police area with another, see annual crime rates and compare figures over three months with the same time for the previous year.
Apart from crime rates, locals can access information about their neighbourhood police team including crime prevention meetings.
Regional versions of the map had already been in use by 43 police forces across the country and have been touted as a success with some garnering 50,000 hits a month.
NPIA Deputy Chief Executive Steve Mortimore, said: “Fear of crime is known to outstrip the reality. The Crime Map will give people the facts about local crime and what forces are doing about it."
"It is a crucial way of improving the efforts to tackle local crime, since communities that are involved in policing help reduce crime and bring more offenders to justice."