Applying advanced analytic techniques to visually explore communication patterns in mobile data

Taking VAST 2015 Mini-challenge 2 (MC2) as background, this paper presents a visual analytics solution for exploring various communication patterns in the mobile application data generated by a great number of visitors in a theme park. The main body of our solution consists two parts: a three-step data preprocessing and two visual analysis tools. A variety of advanced analytic techniques are applied in our solution including community detection, aggregation analysis, collaborative analysis, multifaced analysis based on small multiples, and dynamic network analysis based on massive sequence view. Lots of interesting communication are discovered in our solution. These patterns can help park officials understand how people communicate in the park and improve their management.