Entry Name: "OvGU-Held-GC"

VAST 2015 Challenge
Grand Challenge

Team Members:

Pascal Held, Otto von Guericke University Magdeburg, Germany, pascal.held@ovgu.de PRIMARY

Christian Braune, Otto von Guericke University Magdeburg, Germany, christian.braune@ovgu.de

Rudolf Kruse, Otto von Guericke University Magdeburg, Germany, rudolf.kruse@ovgu.de

Student Team: NO

Did you use data from both mini-challenges? YES

Analytic Tools Used:

Self-developed scripts to make analysis and visualization.

Python

Matplotlib

NumPy / SciPy

Approximately how many hours were spent working on this submission in total?

40h

May we post your submission in the Visual Analytics Benchmark Repository after VAST Challenge 2015 is complete? YES

Video:

OvGU-Held-GC.wmv

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Questions

For each of the following questions, consider both the movement and communications data.

GC.1 – Scott is not a paying customer and does not have an ID. Describe Scott Jones’ activities in the park during the three-day weekend. Who does he spend most of his time with? When does he arrive? When does he leave? What route does he follow?

Limit your response to no more than 10 images and 1000 words.

Unfortunately we did not have the time to find Waldo Scott. We assume that finding him would be possible by analyzing the movement patterns. Where do a lot of people group together? Where do they abruptly change their walking direction (do follow Scott)? Where do a lot of people check in together, that do not check in together usually. We can combine this with the communication data. A celebrity like Scott will lead to his fans sending more messages around. They will post selfies with him to their friends. So we expect that we might see people moving around the park the follow Scott and that send more messages around than they receive ("Look whom I have met! #nofilter" ... )

GC.2 – Identify up to 8 issues with park operations during the three-day weekend. Provide a rationale for your answers.

Limit your response to no more than 8 images and 800 words.

Galactosaurus Rage

On Friday a lot of people head directly towards this ride when they enter the park. It seems, the ride is not ready yet for people to use it. This leads to very long waiting times compared to the rest of the day. Something similar happens - to a much lesser degree - on Sunday noon, where waiting time rise from 3 minutes to 12 minutes.

Flying TyrAndrienkus

On Sunday morning this ride has to close for some time, which we can see from the number of checked in customers at this time. Some time between 10:00 and 11:00 no visitors are checked in nor do any check-in at all, although a lot of people are in front of the ride.

Entry North

The northern entry to the park is not functioning properly on Saturday and Sunday. While on all other days and entries people usually wait less than 2 minutes while they wait about 15 minutes at the northern entry.

Wendisaurus Chase

While the waiting time on Friday tops at about 15 minutes, the average waiting time on all other days is usually one hour. The rides capacity seems to be too low for the number of visitors that want to use it.

Firefall

While the waiting time on Friday tops at about 12 minutes, the average waiting time on all other days is usually one hour. The rides capacity seems to be too low for the number of visitors that want to use it.

GC.3 – For the crime, describe the following, and provide your rationale:

a. When did the crime occur?

b. Where did the crime take place?

c. Who are the most likely suspects in the crime?

Limit your response to no more than 5 images and 500 words.

We checked the number of sent message separated by day and land. Peaks in the histograms mean that there is a higher communication frequency during this time. There is a high peak in Coaster Alley on Friday at 16 o’clock. Also on Saturday and Sunday there are similar peaks in Coaster Alley, but the most significant peak is on Sunday from 11:30 to 12:30 in Wet Land and corresponding to that at 12 o’clock in the Entry Corridor. We should mention that the personal assistance service is located in the Entry Corridor. As the crime contains a stolen Olympic medal, which should be exhibited in the Craighton Pavilion in Wet Land, it seems reasonable to assume that this is related to the crime.

The figures above show an average message distribution. We enriched the message data with the last position of the sender to locate the messages more accurately. As you can see, there is a high amount of messages, which are from the exhibition hall at 11:30. Maybe other guests detected the missing medal and reported this to friends and the park administration.

Later, at 12 o’clock, there is hectic communication all over the park. We asume the park administration informs all guests about the crime, or maybe the police arrived and they give instructions via the personal assistance service.

From the communication data we know that the crime occurs on Sunday before 11:30 in Craighton Pavilion. The figures above support these findings. On Friday and Saturday the exhibition hall closes from 9:00 to 11:30 and from 15:00 to 16:30. On Sunday it also closes, but there are still 3 persons left in the room, and after 12:30 it is closed permanently for police investigation. A deeper look into the data shows that the users 416790, 461004, and 1502920 (Team A) are the guys that remain in the hall. 416790 and 461004 checked in at 9:01:58, 1502920 followed at 9:30. We assume that these three people commit the crime.

To hide the criminal act, they had some colleagues. From the communication data, we get that they are in strong connection to 1000279, 1187909, 1123214, and 1350546. Even during the lock-down time of the exhibition hall, they are communicating.

The figure above illustrates the distance between the suspects. As it can easily be seen, the seven people split into three groups. A cross marks a sent message. The markers also show, that the criminal group coordinatse their movement.

Short after the lockdown time, the first group meets the Team B (1123214, 1350546, yellow-black lines). After this, the first team meets with Team C (1000279, 1187909, cyan-magenta lines). Maybe they handed the Olympic medal over.

Noticeable is also, that Team C visits the Munzasaurus Souvenirs (40) for about 20 minutes shortly after the meeting with Team A (around 13 o’clock). Maybe they hide the medal there. At 15 o’clock Team A also moves to the Souvenirs Shop. We assume that they use the shop to hide the medal during police investigation.