Entry Name: Purdue-Tang-MC2

VAST Challenge 2015
Mini-Challenge 2

Team Members:

Hui Tang, Purdue University,tang227@purdue.edu, Primary

Chao Pan, Purdue Unviersity, panc@purdue.edu

Bing Yu, Purdue University, yu245@purdue.edu

Weidan Du, Purdue University,du97@purdue.edu

Shuang Wei, Purdue University, wei93@purdue.edu

Mingran Li, Purdue Unviersity,li1940@purdue.edu

Chen Guo, Purdue University, guo171@purdue.edu

Longjie Cheng, Purdue University, cheng70@purdue.edu

Kai Hu, Purdue Univerisity, hu332@purdue.edu

Rongrong Zhang, Purdue Univerisity, zhan1602@purdue.edu

XinZhe Li, HIT University

Dr. Yingjie (Victor) Chen, Computer Graphics Technology, Purdue University, victorchen@purdue.edu (supervising faculty)
Dr. Zhenyu (Cheryl) Qian, Interaction Design, Purdue University, qianz@purdue.edu (supervising faculty)
Dr. Yu (Michael) Zhu, Statistics, Purdue University, yuzhu@stat.purdue.edu (supervising faculty)

Student Team: YES

Did you use data from both mini-challenges? No

Analytic Tools Used:

CanvasJS, Gephi

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

450hr

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

Yes

Video Download

Video:

https://va.tech.purdue.edu/vast2015/MC2Video/MC2Video.wmv

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Questions

MC2.1 – Identify those IDs that stand out for their large volumes of communication. For each of these IDs

a. Characterize the communication patterns you see.

b. Based on these patterns, what do you hypothesize about these IDs?

Limit your response to no more than 4 images and 300 words.

a.

ID 1278894 has the largest volume of communication among all IDs (total 189,894 messages sent). For all of these three days, it sends messages periodically in Entry Corridor. As can be seen in figure 1, the message sending always starts after 11:00 AM. There are five sending periods each day with 1 hour-rest between them. Within each period, ID 1278894 sends almost the same number of messages every 5 minutes, and also receives a few messages.

However, the coverage of the sending messages is different. During the first sending period on each day after 11:00 AM, it has the largest coverage. However, the coverage during other time periods is much smaller.

ID 839736 is also a big source of messages (total 60812). Different from id 1278894, ID 839736 sends and receives messages continuously on Friday and Saturday in Entry Corridor. As can be seen from Figure2, the number of messages that it sends for every minute is almost the same with the number of messages it receives and both of them don’t change so much. The pattern is almost the same on Sunday, but at 12:00, there is a huge burst of message sending and receiving from this ID and another smaller one at 14:40.

b.

ID 1278894 might be a broadcast center related to some activities or shows in the park. Because it has a fixed location and sends a large number of messages periodically.

ID 839736 might be an information service that answer questions so the amount of message sending and receiving is almost the same. But from 12:00 to 14:40, the increasing of the amount of communication might because of some inquiries of accidents.

Figure 0. Overall Structure

Figure 1.

Figure 2.

Figure 3.

MC2.2 – Describe up to 10 communications patterns in the data. Characterize who is communicating, with whom, when and where. If you have more than 10 patterns to report, please prioritize those patterns that are most likely to relate to the crime.

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

1.There are ids who never received any messages while sending only one message over the three-day period. For example, id 215220 sent the only message on Sunday 9:38:58 at location (80, 74) in Kiddie Land. The counterpart is an external entity. The following shows the time series of the sending and receiving activities.

2.Though there is no id who didn't send a single message at all, there are 14 ids who sent only one message over three days. The following table summarizes the time and location of communication for those ids.

time	Fromid	toid	location	fromx	fromy	tox	toy
6/6/14 9:35:57	1763672	0	Kiddie Land	81	77	0	0
6/6/14 14:47:15	1336870	0	Wet Land	22	34	0	0
6/7/14 9:32:47	596672	0	Tundra Land	41	75	0	0
6/7/14 10:38:23	1458915	0	Wet Land	32	33	0	0
6/7/14 11:27:30	1680161	0	Kiddie Land	87	48	0	0
6/8/14 9:38:58	215220	0	Kiddie Land	80	74	0	0
6/8/14 11:19:35	365259	0	Wet Land	69	44	0	0
6/8/14 11:52:54	474843	0	Wet Land	69	44	0	0
6/8/14 12:26:03	688489	0	Wet Land	63	43	0	0
6/7/14 8:51:15	1187304	839736	Wet Land	56	31	0	0
6/7/14 13:41:21	1038617	839736	Tundra Land	35	65	0	0
6/8/14 9:38:29	825934	839736	Tundra Land	49	83	0	0
6/8/14 10:16:51	1658667	839736	Wet Land	16	49	0	0
6/8/14 13:07:38	906235	839736	Tundra Land	16	66	0	0

It can be seen from the table above that the target for those who sent only one message is either an external entity or the broadcasting id 839736.

3.There are hub groups where within each there is a center id who communicated with everyone while no one else communicated with each other. The following graph shows an example happened on Sunday between 11:25:49.

The communication detail is shown in the following table:

time	fromid	toid	location	fromx	fromy	tox	toy
6/8/14 11:25:49	897528	1240560	Wet Land	62	42	42	20
6/8/14 11:25:49	897528	509717	Wet Land	62	42	87	68
6/8/14 11:25:49	897528	1078759	Wet Land	62	42	42	20
6/8/14 11:25:49	897528	1861415	Wet Land	62	42	62	41
6/8/14 11:25:49	897528	1445101	Wet Land	62	42	42	20
6/8/14 11:25:49	897528	457576	Wet Land	62	42	62	43

4.There are hubs with two centers where each center id sent messages to the rest of the group. However, non-center ids didn’t communicate with each other. An example is shown in the following graph:

The communication detail is shown in the following table:

time	fromid	toid	location	fromx	fromy	tox	toy
2014-06-08 11:26:10	51523	648000	Wet Land	17	43	17	43
2014-06-08 11:26:10	51523	1606701	Wet Land	17	43	17	43
2014-06-08 11:26:10	51523	730487	Wet Land	17	43	16	66
2014-06-08 11:26:10	51523	1592785	Wet Land	17	43	16	66
2014-06-08 11:26:10	51523	1095102	Wet Land	17	43	16	66
2014-06-08 11:26:10	51523	1729991	Wet Land	17	43	17	43
2014-06-08 11:26:10	51523	1753569	Wet Land	17	43	16	66
2014-06-08 11:26:37	1729991	51523	Wet Land	17	43	17	43
2014-06-08 11:26:37	1729991	648000	Wet Land	17	43	17	43
2014-06-08 11:26:37	1729991	1606701	Wet Land	17	43	17	43
2014-06-08 11:26:37	1729991	730487	Wet Land	17	43	16	66
2014-06-08 11:26:37	1729991	1592785	Wet Land	17	43	16	66
2014-06-08 11:26:37	1729991	1095102	Wet Land	17	43	16	66
2014-06-08 11:26:37	1729991	1753569	Wet Land	17	43	16	66

It is clear from the data that each of the two center ids sent messages at different time. All of the communications occurred in Wet Land. Besides, it can be seen that both centered ids were at the same location while sending messages. id 648000 and id 1606701 were with the centered ids during this period. The other non-center ids were away from the centers but they are together by themselves.

5.There are some cases where two hubs are connected through a middleman. The following graph shows an example:

where id 1377155 and id 966510 are the two centers in a hub and id 0 is a pseudo id representing an external entity. They are inter-connected through id 254060. In this topology, the two center ids sent messages to the middleman which directed messages to id 0.

The following table shows the communication details:

time	fromid	toid	location	fromx	fromy	tox	toy
2014-06-08 11:25:23	1337155	254060	Tundra Land	34	65	33	65
2014-06-08 11:26:22	966510	254060	Tundra Land	36	72	36	72
2014-06-08 11:26:30	254060	0	Tundra Land	37	73	0	0

It can be seen that the communication occurred in Tundra Land. Id 1337155 contacted the middle man id 254060 before id 966510 did. While one of the centers id 966510 and the middleman id 254060 are close, the other center id 1337155 was further from them.

6.There are large multi-center hubs which are connected to other groups through multiple middlemen.

Id 1215994, 675346, 376904, 829943, 162071, 1460660, 1952914, 170456, and 1034802 are the major communicators in this group. Besides, there are two types of members in this kind of group, one only communicates with those ids listed, the other communicates with the listed ids and other groups as well.  The former are indicated by the dots enclosed in the middle, and the latter type is represented by the dots aligned on the bottom.

The following table shows the time when each of those listed ids sent messages. Each of them sent to multiple ids:

Time	From	Location
2014-06-08 11:25:08	1215994	Coaster Alley
2014-06-08 11:25:15	170456	Entry Corridor
2014-06-08 11:25:17	1034802	Coaster Alley
2014-06-08 11:25:24	1952914	Wet Land
2014-06-08 11:26:50	1620771	Coaster Alley
2014-06-08 11:26:53	829943	Tundra Land
2014-06-08 11:26:54	675346	Wet Land
2014-06-08 11:26:54	1460660	Coaster Alley
2014-06-08 11:26:39	376904	Coaster Alley

It is interesting to notice that each id was in the same Land while sending messages. It is suspected that they are the local receptionists in each Land.

7.There are some instances where a member who belongs to a large group “leaks” messages to an individual who has no connection with the rest of the group. The following is an example:

Id 1022772 belongs to a large group where heavy communication occurred on Sunday between 12:25:00 and 12:26:59. However, id 584017 has no other communication except with 1022772.

time	fromid	toid	location	fromx	fromy	tox	toy
2014-06-08 11:24:08	1366526	584017	Coaster Alley	49	28	38	90
2014-06-08 11:24:28	1366526	584017	Coaster Alley	52	28	38	90
2014-06-08 11:26:22	1022772	584017	Coaster Alley	44	25	38	90
2014-06-08 11:27:40	1859126	584017	Wet Land	17	43	38	90
2014-06-08 11:28:09	1063010	584017	Wet Land	69	44	38	90
2014-06-08 11:28:10	1394108	584017	Wet Land	69	44	38	90
2014-06-08 11:28:16	715390	584017	Wet Land	15	40	38	90
2014-06-08 11:28:18	18989	584017	Wet Land	17	43	38	90
2014-06-08 11:28:27	640904	584017	Kiddie Land	71	81	38	90
2014-06-08 11:28:28	640904	584017	Kiddie Land	71	81	38	90
2014-06-08 11:28:30	967171	584017	Wet Land	17	43	38	90

The above table shows that id 1022772 sent a message to id 584017 on Sunday 11:26:22 at Coaster Alley.

8.There are occasions when the broadcasting sites sent massive messages. The following is an example where massive messages sent from id 1278894 on Sunday 12:30:00 and 12:30:01.

MC2.3 – From this data, can you hypothesize when the crime was discovered? Describe your rationale.

Limit your response to no more than 3 images and 300 words.

From this data, we can hypothesize that the crime was discovered at 12:00 on Sunday.
Firstly, because ID 839736 is considered as information service center (see our hypothesis in MC2.1), the communication pattern of it can represents the whole situation to some extent. As can be seen in Figure 1, there is a burst of message sending and receiving at 12:00 on Sunday which is different from it on Friday and Saturday. We think that many people are asking for more information at that time. So this unusual behavior can be an indication of when the crime was discovered.
Secondly, for other IDs, the pattern is different between Sunday and Saturday at 12:00. This can also support our hypothesis. For example, comparing figure2 with figure3, we can see that most people in that group send much more messages during 12:00 - 12:30 than other time periods on Sunday and the whole Saturday.

Figure1. ID 839736, Sun(162755)

Figure2. Sat(403)

Figure3. Sun(403)