Visilant: Visual Support for the Exploration and Analytical
Process Tracking in Criminal Investigations

J 2021

Visilant: Visual Support for the Exploration and Analytical Process Tracking in Criminal Investigations

ZÁKOPČANOVÁ, Kristína, Marko ŘEHÁČEK, Jozef BÁTRNA, Daniel PLAKINGER, Sergej STOPPEL et. al.

Basic information

Original name

Visilant: Visual Support for the Exploration and Analytical Process Tracking in Criminal Investigations

Authors

ZÁKOPČANOVÁ, Kristína (203 Czech Republic, belonging to the institution), Marko ŘEHÁČEK (703 Slovakia, belonging to the institution), Jozef BÁTRNA (703 Slovakia, belonging to the institution), Daniel PLAKINGER (703 Slovakia, belonging to the institution), Sergej STOPPEL (276 Germany) and Barbora KOZLÍKOVÁ (203 Czech Republic, guarantor, belonging to the institution)

Edition

IEEE Transactions on Visualization and Computer Graphics, IEEE, 2021, 1077-2626

Other information

Language

English

Type of outcome

Článek v odborném periodiku

Field of Study

10200 1.2 Computer and information sciences

Country of publisher

United States of America

Confidentiality degree

není předmětem státního či obchodního tajemství

References:

URL

Impact factor

Impact factor: 5.226

RIV identification code

RIV/00216224:14330/21:00120051

Organization unit

Faculty of Informatics

DOI

http://dx.doi.org/10.1109/TVCG.2020.3030356

UT WoS

000706330100073

Keywords in English

Criminal investigation;visualization;network;exploration;interaction;tracking;diagram

Abstract

V originále

The daily routine of criminal investigators consists of a thorough analysis of highly complex and heterogeneous data of crime cases. Such data can consist of case descriptions, testimonies, criminal networks, spatial and temporal information, and virtually any other data that is relevant for the case. Criminal investigators work under heavy time pressure to analyze the data for relationships, propose and verify several hypotheses, and derive conclusions, while the data can be incomplete or inconsistent and is changed and updated throughout the investigation, as new findings are added to the case. Based on a four-year intense collaboration with criminalists, we present a conceptual design for a visual tool supporting the investigation workflow and Visilant, a web-based tool for the exploration and analysis of criminal data guided by the proposed design. Visilant aims to support namely the exploratory part of the investigation pipeline, from case overview, through exploration and hypothesis generation, to the case presentation. Visilant tracks the reasoning process and as the data is changing, it informs investigators which hypotheses are affected by the data change and should be revised. The tool was evaluated by senior criminology experts within two sessions and their feedback is summarized in the paper. Additional supplementary material contains the technical details and exemplary case study.

Links

MUNI/A/1076/2019, interní kód MU

Name: Zapojení studentů Fakulty informatiky do mezinárodní vědecké komunity 20 (Acronym: SKOMU)

Investor: Masaryk University, Category A

MUNI/A/1411/2019, interní kód MU

Name: Aplikovaný výzkum: softwarové architektury kritických infrastruktur, bezpečnost počítačových systémů, zpracování přirozeného jazyka a jazykové inženýrství, vizualizaci velkých dat a rozšířená realita.

Investor: Masaryk University, Category A

VI20172020096, research and development project

Name: Komplexní analýza a vizualizace heterogenních dat velkého rozsahu

Investor: Ministry of the Interior of the CR, Complex Analysis and Visualization of Large-scale Heterogeneous Data

Citovat

ZÁKOPČANOVÁ, Kristína, Marko ŘEHÁČEK, Jozef BÁTRNA, Daniel PLAKINGER, Sergej STOPPEL and Barbora KOZLÍKOVÁ. Visilant: Visual Support for the Exploration and Analytical Process Tracking in Criminal Investigations. IEEE Transactions on Visualization and Computer Graphics. IEEE, 2021, vol. 27, No 2, p. 881-890. ISSN 1077-2626. Available from: https://dx.doi.org/10.1109/TVCG.2020.3030356.

@article{1681798,
   author = {Zákopčanová, Kristína and Řeháček, Marko and Bátrna, Jozef and Plakinger, Daniel and Stoppel, Sergej and Kozlíková, Barbora},
   article_number = {2},
   doi = {http://dx.doi.org/10.1109/TVCG.2020.3030356},
   keywords = {Criminal investigation;visualization;network;exploration;interaction;tracking;diagram},
   language = {eng},
   issn = {1077-2626},
   journal = {IEEE Transactions on Visualization and Computer Graphics},
   title = {Visilant: Visual Support for the Exploration and Analytical Process Tracking in Criminal Investigations},
   url = {https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/document/9222116?source=authoralert},
   volume = {27},
   year = {2021}
}

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PB  - IEEE
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UR  - https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/document/9222116?source=authoralert
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N2  - The daily routine of criminal investigators consists of a thorough analysis of highly complex and heterogeneous data of crime cases. Such data can consist of case descriptions, testimonies, criminal networks, spatial and temporal information, and virtually any other data that is relevant for the case. Criminal investigators work under heavy time pressure to analyze the data for relationships, propose and verify several hypotheses, and derive conclusions, while the data can be incomplete or inconsistent and is changed and updated throughout the investigation, as new findings are added to the case. Based on a four-year intense collaboration with criminalists, we present a conceptual design for a visual tool supporting the investigation workflow and Visilant, a web-based tool for the exploration and analysis of criminal data guided by the proposed design. Visilant aims to support namely the exploratory part of the investigation pipeline, from case overview, through exploration and hypothesis generation, to the case presentation. Visilant tracks the reasoning process and as the data is changing, it informs investigators which hypotheses are affected by the data change and should be revised. The tool was evaluated by senior criminology experts within two sessions and their feedback is summarized in the paper. Additional supplementary material contains the technical details and exemplary case study.
ER  -

ZÁKOPČANOVÁ, Kristína, Marko ŘEHÁČEK, Jozef BÁTRNA, Daniel PLAKINGER, Sergej STOPPEL and Barbora KOZLÍKOVÁ. Visilant: Visual Support for the Exploration and Analytical Process Tracking in Criminal Investigations. \textit{IEEE Transactions on Visualization and Computer Graphics}. IEEE, 2021, vol.~27, No~2, p.~881-890. ISSN~1077-2626. Available from: https://dx.doi.org/10.1109/TVCG.2020.3030356.

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