Trenchcoat Detectives

ISSS608: Visual Analytics and Applications
- Anuthama Murugesan
- Krutika Balveer Choudhary
- Sumalika Kodumuru

Proposal

Poster

Application

Report

Geo-spatial analysis of vehicle movement data to uncover patterns and detect anomalies

Motivation:
We found plot of ‘VAST Challenge 2017’ to be intriguing, to the likes of a detective story. The plot unfolds with a clear purpose of identifying the most plausible factors that lead to the decline of the endangered bird species Rose-crested Blue Pipit at the Boonsong Lekagul Nature Preserve. We aim to propose a hypothesis backed by the deductions from our analysis. The dataset covers a broad range of data types, from timestamp of vehicles that move through the preserve, to gaseous effluents data from nearby factories and imagery data of the flora and fauna in the Preserve. This will challenge us to deal with different types of data set and strive to find correlations between such varied data.

Dataset Overview:
Our study utilizes data from a Natural Preserve to explore vehicle movement patterns. The rise of the sensors and IOT era has made data capture by independent organizations and bodies plausible and this improves accessibility to movement data. Data is recorded from sensors around the Boonsong Lekagul Nature PreserveData and is available as given below:

- TimeStamp:
Timestamp data from the movement of vehicles through the Preserve

- Car Types/Categories:
When vehicles enter the Preserve, they must proceed through a gate and obtain a pass. The gate categorizes vehicles as follows:
1. 2 axle car (or motorcycle)
2. 2 axle truck
3. 3 axle truck
4. 4 axle (and above) truck
5. 2 axle bus
6. 3 axle bus

- Gate Names:
1.Entrances: All vehicles pass through an Entrance when entering or leaving the Preserve.
2. General-gates: All vehicles may pass through these gates. These sensors provide valuable information for the Preserve Rangers trying to understand the flow of traffic through the Preserve.
3. Gates: These are gates that prevent general traffic from passing. Preserve Ranger vehicles have tags that allow them to pass through these gates to inspect or perform work on the roadway beyond.
4. Ranger-stops: These sensors represent working areas for the Rangers, so you will often see a Ranger-stop sensor at the end of a road managed by a Gate. Some Ranger-stops are in other locations however, so these sensors record all traffic passing by.
5. Camping: These sensors record visitors to the Preserve camping areas. Visitors pass by these entering and exiting a campground.

- Preserve Map:

The contractors working with the Nature Preserve rangers have provided a map that presents the Preserve in terms of a 200x200 gridded area. The grid is oriented with north at the top of the map. Grid location (0,0) is at the lower left corner of the map (the SW corner). They have superimposed both the roadways and the sensor locations on this grid. The map shows an area 12 miles x 12 miles. Roadways are indicated by white colored pixels on the map. Each sensor type has its own unique color: Entrances (green), General-gates (blue), Gates (red), Ranger-stops (yellow), and Camping (orange).

- Additional notes:
1. Traffic either passes through the Preserve, stay as day campers, or stay as extended campers.
2. Preserve Rangers stay at the ranger-base toward the southeast of the Preserve when they are not working in the Preserve.
3. The speed limit through the Preserve is 25 mph.
4. The Preserve area does not observe “Daylight Savings Time”.
5. The roadways traveling southward from Entrances 3 and 4 do continue to other roadways outside of the Preserve area, but these are not shown on the map. Vehicle data will not reflect travel beyond the Preserve in this direction.

- Data Table Snippet:

Project Scope

Project Timeline: