White Paper WP-2017-001: Architecture, Development and Testing Environment for a Visual Analytics-based Criminal Intelligence Analysis System

Ms Haider — Sun, 08 Jan 2017 08:58:28 +0000

The VALCRI architecture is built from different Docker containers that speak with each other using mostly REST interfaces. The architecture is designed to incorporating Security, Ethics, Privacy and Legal (SEPL) solutions. The data stores – the Unstructured Database (UDB) and the Structured database (SDB) – used are controlled by SEPL Enforcement components and a Template Engine manages the previously checked and accepted query templates that can be sent to the data stores. The Advanced User Interface (AUI) server is also designed with SEPL in mind: a Jetty (Java HTTP server and Java Servlet container) instance is created per user by a Jetty Lifecycle Management component. Each such instance lives inside a Docker container to promote isolation. The Jetty instance hosts the mid-tier services, serves the front-end JavaScript code and manages the communication between the mid-tier services and the front-end. The midtier services are written in java and front-end components are implemented using GWT – Google Web Toolkit. The Model View Presenter (MVP) design pattern is implemented. The SEPL Enforcement components, as well as the analysis components, and the Jetty Containers communicate to the CAS (Central Authentication Service) component to ensure that only authorized users can perform certain actions and allows data to be properly restricted. The user management of the CAS component is linked with the LDAP (Lightweight Directory Access Protocol) component to manage and authenticate user credentials. All the components may use the interface exposed by the GrayLog component, ensuring that any action done by any component can be logged in the logging storage. Systematic system integration is a key principle for the success of VALCRI and for that a development pipeline was designed. This pipeline aims to provide continuous system integration while promoting collaboration, contributions, quick feedback to contributions, changing and evolving interfaces, and above all respecting the principle of “keep it working” – allowing to introduce many contributions in small steps while the system continues to compile and work. The GIT Source Control Management (SCM) platform is used for keeping track of changes in the source code. It is accompanied by a GitLab installation that provides a user interface that allows managing the user accounts and the individual code repositories. In order to compile and build the code available from the SCM, a custom build system was developed using Gradle. The Gradle setup is also accompanied with a Nexus component – an artefact repository – which hosts all the compiled, binary VALCRI system components. For each change in the SCM, the source code is automatically rebuilt and all tests are run. In order to do this, a Jenkins installation was put into place. Because the VALCRI architecture includes many services working on different environments, Docker was selected to allow building, shipping and running the complete environments.

Keywords

Visual Analytics, Sense-Making, Criminal Intelligence Analysis, Architecture, REST, Security, Ethics, Privacy and Legal (SEPL), Model View Presenter, Isolation, Google Web Toolkit (GWT), Errai, Docker containers, Central Authentication Service (CAS), LDAP, GrayLog, GIT, Gradle, Nexus, Jenkins

VALCRI WHITE PAPER SERIES

VALCRI-WP-2017-001 Architecture

Multi-Perspective Synopsis with Faceted Views of Varying Emphasis

valcriTeam — Fri, 30 Oct 2015 18:53:46 +0000

Dykes, J., Rooney, C., Beecham, R., Turkay, C., Slingsby, A., Wood, J. & Wong, W. (2015). Multi-Perspective Synopsis with Faceted Views of Varying Emphasis. Paper presented at the VIS 2015, 25-10-2015 – 30-10-2015, Chicago, USA.

Abstract:

Many datasets have multiple perspectives – e.g. time, space and description – and often summaries are required for these multiple perspectives concurrently. A design challenge is to provide such a concurrent summary of perspectives in ways that neither clutter nor visually overload. We report on a framework that helps us do this. We demonstrate its use with an implementation based on a Crime Pattern Analysis case study that produces synoptic summarises of spatial, temporal and descriptive information in crime reports. Our work with crime analysts suggests that the framework offers some potential for Crime Pattern Analysis.

Keywords – Composite Views, Criminal Intelligence Analysis, Small Multiples

URL

Criminal Intelligence Analysis – Valcri

White Paper WP-2017-001: Architecture, Development and Testing Environment for a Visual Analytics-based Criminal Intelligence Analysis System

Multi-Perspective Synopsis with Faceted Views of Varying Emphasis