The daily routine of criminal investigators consists of a thorough analysis of highly complex and heterogeneous data of crime cases. Such data can consist of case descriptions, testimonies, criminal networks, spatial and temporal information, and virtually any other data that is relevant for the case. Criminal investigators work under heavy time pressure to analyze the data for relationships, propose and verify several hypotheses, and derive conclusions, while the data can be incomplete or inconsistent and is changed and updated throughout the investigation, as new findings are added to the case. Based on a four-year intense collaboration with criminalists, we present a conceptual design for a visual tool supporting the investigation workflow and Visilant, a web-based tool for the exploration and analysis of criminal data guided by the proposed design. Visilant aims to support namely the exploratory part of the investigation pipeline, from case overview, through exploration and hypothesis generation, to the case presentation. Visilant tracks the reasoning process and as the data is changing, it informs investigators which hypotheses are affected by the data change and should be revised. The tool was evaluated by senior criminology experts within two sessions and their feedback is summarized in the paper. Additional supplementary material contains the technical details and exemplary case study.

中文翻译：

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Visilant：为刑事调查中的探索和分析过程跟踪提供视觉支持

刑事调查人员的日常工作包括对犯罪案件的高度复杂和异类数据进行彻底分析。此类数据可以包括案件描述、证词、犯罪网络、空间和时间信息，以及几乎与案件相关的任何其他数据。刑事调查人员在沉重的时间压力下工作，以分析数据的关系，提出和验证若干假设，并得出结论，而数据可能不完整或不一致，并且在整个调查过程中随着新的调查结果被添加到案件中而发生变化和更新。基于与犯罪学家为期四年的密切合作，我们提出了一个支持调查工作流程和 Visilant 的可视化工具的概念设计，一种基于网络的工具，用于在拟议设计的指导下探索和分析犯罪数据。Visilant 旨在支持调查管道的探索部分，从案例概述，通过探索和假设生成，再到案例展示。Visilant 跟踪推理过程，随着数据的变化，它会通知调查人员哪些假设受到数据变化的影响，应该进行修改。该工具由高级犯罪学专家在两次会议中进行了评估，他们的反馈在论文中进行了总结。其他补充材料包含技术细节和示例性案例研究。Visilant 跟踪推理过程，随着数据的变化，它会通知调查人员哪些假设受到数据变化的影响，应该进行修改。该工具由高级犯罪学专家在两次会议中进行了评估，他们的反馈在论文中进行了总结。其他补充材料包含技术细节和示例性案例研究。Visilant 跟踪推理过程，随着数据的变化，它会通知调查人员哪些假设受到数据变化的影响，应该进行修改。该工具由高级犯罪学专家在两次会议中进行了评估，他们的反馈在论文中进行了总结。其他补充材料包含技术细节和示例性案例研究。