Visualizing Conflict Data in Ukraine with TerraLens Web Core

For a recent R&D project, the engineering team developed a Proof of Concept (PoC) of a web-based map view to visualize the intensity of the incidents within Ukraine.

We used Open Source Intelligence (OSINT) situational data provided by The Armed Conflict Location & Event Data (ACLED).  ACLED is a registered non-profit organization that collects real-time crisis information for areas around the globe and makes this information available to include specific dates, locations, descriptions, actors, and fatalities for an event. In addition, ACLED collects data on various types of reported political violence and protests around the world. For the PoC we had around 8,000 relevant data points for Ukraine recorded within the past 9 months.

How was TerraLens involved?

With the support of our highly performant web-based 3D geospatial rendering engine, TerraLens Web Core, we ingested ACLED incident data (in JSON format) to project data points onto a high-resolution3D map. 

Our team went one step further and integrated freely available spatial boundary information for Ukraine. This data, in GeoJSON format, defines the boundaries of individual regions within Ukraine on the map. Each regional boundary has a fill colour applied which is computed based on a linear correlation with the number of incidents recorded within the geometry. Boundary colours indicate the intensity of events within the conflict zones, where the colour green represent little to no incidents and highly active areas are visualized in red.  Levels in between are filled with a gradient colour model.

The cover image illustrates this design concept. Regions of heavy activity are clearly marked on the map and provide analysts quick access to the underlying data.

The software provides capabilities allowing intelligent filtering strategies for deeper exploitation of the data. We included features to allow analysts to filter incidents by type, time and region. This also allows users to focus on a specific coordinate on map with range-based filtering.  These features reduce user cognitive load by showing only data points relevant against user applied filters and are spatially focused to a specific conflict region.

We wanted to build a tool that provides a real-world use case to leverage our in-house capabilities dealing with GEOINT data using TerraLens Web Core. The end result provides analysts tools to navigate and exploit OSINT and GEOINT information in highly active conflict zones within the borders of Ukraine.

About Midas:

MIDAS™ (Modular ISR Data Analysis and Storage) automates the processing of Intelligence, Surveillance, and Reconnaissance (ISR) sensor data for UAS and other Unmanned Systems (UxS).

With MIDAS, you can review and compare real-time, near real-time, and historical sensor data, full motion video included.

Sensor data can be analyzed, viewed in a temporal context, and even analyzed with AI tools without having to wait for data to be transferred to headquarters. It allows operators to develop actionable intelligence from sensor data at the forward edge, where it is most needed.

About TerraLens:

In virtually any development environment, TerraLens® is an easy-to-integrate and quick-to-implement geospatial and display Software Development Kit (SDK). With TerraLens, you can map in real-time in 2D and 3D and visualize data in powerful ways. When combined with QT, TerraLens offers advanced multi-touch support as well as a full-featured UI development toolset.

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Learn more about our TerraLens Software Development Kit and how you can acquire a free TerraLens Developer License.