Yet another armed conflict database

https://scribe.rip/geospatial-intelligence/yet-another-armed-conflict-database-
e60ccb403d7

Armed conflict databases are collections of information about

armed conflicts, including information about the parties
involved, the duration of the conflict, and the location of the
conflict. We can use these databases for a variety of purposes,
including academic research, policy analysis, and conflict
resolution.

There are several well-known armed conflict databases,

including the Armed Conflict Location and Event Data Project
(ACLED)¹, the Uppsala Conflict Data Program (UCDP)², and the
Global Conflict Tracker³ from the Council on Foreign Relations.
These databases differ in their scope, methods, and data
sources, but they all aim to provide reliable and up-to-date
information about armed conflicts around the world.

Armed conflict databases can be useful for identifying trends

and patterns in armed conflicts, tracking the evolution of
conflicts over time, and understanding the factors that
contribute to the onset and resolution of armed conflicts. They
monitor the impact of armed conflicts on civilians and assess
the effectiveness of conflict resolution efforts.

Geospatial representation of events

Coordinates, such as latitude and longitude, are a common way
to represent the location of an event on a map. However, there
are several disadvantages to using coordinates as a geospatial
representation:

Precision

Coordinates can be difficult to interpret accurately, especially if

we save them with a high level of fake-precision. For example,
it's hard to determine exactly where an event took place if we
gave the coordinates to the hundredth or thousandth of a
degree.

Complexity

Coordinates can be hard to understand and work with,

especially for people who are not familiar with geospatial
concepts. It's difficult to know what a particular set of
coordinates represents or how to use them to locate a specific
place on a map.

Ambiguity

Coordinates can be ambiguous, particularly if we save them in

different formats or reference different coordinate systems. For
example, it's hard to determine whether a set of coordinates is
in degrees, radians, or some other unit.

One way to overcome these disadvantages is to use polygon

feature representation, which involves defining the location of
an event as a specific area on a map. We can do this using a
variety of geospatial tools and technologies, such as GIS
software or online mapping platforms.

Using polygon feature representation can be useful when

saving an event that happened near a city or border. For
example, if an event took place within a certain distance of a
city, it's difficult to determine exactly where the event took place
using coordinates alone. By defining the location as a polygon
around the city, it is easier to see exactly where the event
occurred and how it relates to the city or other nearby
landmarks.

Events being represented as geodetic polygons ©

OpenStreetMap contributors
Data being hosted BigQuery

Google BigQuery is a cloud-based data warehousing and

analytics platform that enables users to analyze large and
complex datasets using SQL (Structured Query Language). It
handles petabyte-scale datasets and allows users to run
interactive queries and analyses on large datasets in real-time.

Google built BigQuery on top of their cloud infrastructure,

which means it can process large amounts of data quickly and
efficiently. It also integrates with other Google Cloud Platform
(GCP) services, such as Google Cloud Storage and Google Cloud
Data Fusion, making it easy to ingest, transform, and analyze
data from a variety of sources.

One of the major benefits of BigQuery is its ability to handle

large volumes of data without requiring users to set up and
maintain their own infrastructure. This makes it an attractive
option for organizations that need to analyze large datasets but
do not have the resources or expertise to do so on their own.

Armed Conflicts BigQuery result of 24th February 2022

Serverless executed Azure Functions

Azure Functions is a serverless compute-service that enables

users to run code in response to specific events, such as an
HTTP request, a message from a queue, or a change in a
database. It is a fully managed service that abstracts away the
underlying infrastructure, allowing users to focus on writing
and deploying their code without having to worry about
managing servers or other infrastructure.

Microsoft builds Azure Functions on top of their cloud platform

and is scalable, reliable, and cost-effective. It supports a variety
of programming languages, including C#, F#, JavaScript, and
Python, and allows users to choose the development
environment that best meets their needs.

One of the major benefits of Azure Functions is its ability to

automatically scale up or down based on demand, which helps
users optimize their costs and resources. It also integrates with
other Azure services, such as Azure Storage, Azure Cosmos DB,
and Azure Event Grid, making it easy to build event-driven
applications and workflows.

Azure Function service endpoints

Access using Rapid API

RapidAPI is a marketplace for APIs (Application Programming

Interfaces) that enables developers to discover, test, and
connect to third-party APIs. It is a platform that allows API
providers to share their APIs with developers and allows
developers to easily find, test, and use APIs in their own
applications.

RapidAPI provides a wide range of APIs across a variety of

categories, including finance, travel, healthcare, and social
media. It also offers a range of tools and resources to help
developers get started with APIs, including code samples,
documentation, and support.

One of the major benefits of RapidAPI is that it provides a single

platform for developers to discover and use a wide range of
APIs from different providers. This saves developers time and
effort by eliminating the need to search for and integrate APIs
from multiple sources. RapidAPI also provides a range of
security and authentication features to help ensure that APIs
are used securely and under their terms of use.
geoconflicts API being hosted at RapidAPI

Web Maps and Dashboard using ArcGIS Platform

With an ArcGIS developer account, you have access to the

underlying location services from ArcGIS Platform. Each
developer account has a dedicated instance offering private and
public content like web maps, feature layers and dashboards,
instant apps.

We queried the armed conflict events of 24th February 2022

using our geoconflicts API and saved those into private hosted
feature services using ArcGIS Platform. A dedicated feature
service represents the conflict events as geodetic polygons with
common properties of the armed conflict events. Two feature
services host the aggregated spatial bins and the spatial clusters.
The serverless backend of the geoconflicts API calculates these
aggregations on-the-fly.
We created a public accessible armed conflicts web map and
added public shared feature layer views referencing the armed
conflict events, the spatial bins and the spatial clusters. The
feature layers are scale dependent, so that you can easily gain
spatial insights from high-level aggregation to dedicated areas
of interests where these events occur.

The dashboard uses the current map extent filtering the armed
conflict events shown in the left side-panel. Selecting an event
item triggers the pan to map event action, and highlights the
corresponding event polygon.

Armed Conflicts Dashboard of 24th February 2022

Summary

We used the platform-as-a-service offering BigQuery from

Google hosting the spatial-enabled armed conflict events of the
Uppsala Conflict Data Program, Azure Functions from Microsoft
accessing BigQuery and calculating spatial aggregations on-the-
fly perfectly fitting into our current Azure DevOps pipeline, and
ArcGIS Platform from Esri hosting fully fledged feature services,
ready-to-use dashboards containing hosted web maps for the
best user experience.

References:

[1] Armed Conflict and Event Data Project (ACLED) The Armed
Conflict Location & Event Data Project (ACLED) collects real-time
data on the locations, dates, actors, fatalities, and types of all
reported political violence and protest events around the world.

[2] Uppsala Conflict Data Program (UCDP) The Uppsala Conflict

Data Program (UCDP) is the world’s main provider of data on
organized violence and the oldest ongoing data collection project
for civil war, with a history of almost 40 years.

[3] Global Conflict Tracker The Global Conflict Tracker is an

interactive guide to ongoing conflicts around the world of concern
to the United States with background information and resources.

[4] Geoconflicts API Query armed conflict events worldwide and

visualize them using spatial aggregations.

[5] Armed Conflicts Dashboard Armed Conflicts Dashboard

showing all armed conflicts of 24th February 2022.
[6] ArcGIS Platform Bring the power of maps and location
services to your applications.