[Infovis] Call for Participation: IEEE VAST Challenge 2018

[Whiting, Mark A]

The IEEE VAST Challenge 2018 is now available!
Visit: http://vacommunity.org/VAST+Challenge+2018
Submission deadline: July 13, 2018 at 11:59 pm Pacific Daylight Time (UTC/GMT -9 hours).

The Visual Analytics Science and Technology (VAST) Challenge is an annual contest with the goal of advancing the field of visual analytics through competition. The VAST Challenge is designed to help researchers understand how their software would be used in a novel analytic tasks and determine if their data transformations, visualizations, and interactions would be beneficial to answer particular data-driven questions. VAST Challenge problems provide researchers with realistic data sets and questions for evaluating their software, as well as an opportunity to advance the field by solving more complex problems.

This year, we return to the Boonsong Lekagul Wildlife Preserve scenario from 2017. New complications have arisen from last year's situation, providing new opportunities to apply visual analytics and other analysis skills.

Overview
Mistford is a mid-size city located to the southwest of the Boonsong Lekagul Wildlife Preserve. The city has a small industrial area with four light-manufacturing endeavors. Mistford and the wildlife preserve are struggling with the possible endangerment of the Rose-Crested Blue Pipit, a locally loved bird. Is a local company causing the birds' demise? The scenario for this challenge builds on last year's but the challenges are new.
Mini-Challenge 1:  Analysis of audio data and geospatial temporal information
Claims that the Rose-Crested Blue Pipit are healthy and vibrant across the whole preserve are in question. New visualizations are needed to further investigate the birds' situation. Perhaps these bird call recordings could provide more insight into the real situation? Blending machine learning and visual analytics may be a powerful combination for this mini-challenge.
Applicable technologies: Pattern recognition, geospatial temporal data visualization, machine learning
Please visit VAST Challenge 2018: Mini-Challenge 1 for more information and to download the data. (http://vacommunity.org/VAST+Challenge+2018+MC1)

Mini-Challenge 2: Analysis of sensor data and geospatial temporal information
Local birds depend on a fragile watershed that spans the Wildlife Preserve. Perhaps some new visualization of river contaminants and analyses within the Preserve may help illustrate that the accused polluter's story doesn't hold water (or does it?).
Applicable technologies: Spatial/temporal visualization of sensor readings, anomaly detection, identifying data gaps
Please visit VAST Challenge 2018: Mini-Challenge 2 for more information and to download the data. (http://vacommunity.org/VAST+Challenge+2018+MC2)

Mini-Challenge 3: Analysis of large-scale transaction graphs
The accused polluting factory is connected to a large multi-national corporation. An unexpected source suggests that the parent company may be involved in illicit activities that impact more than just Mistford and the Wildlife Preserve. Visualization and analysis of some challenging large scale graph data may provide further insights on the scope of the company's activities. This challenge may prove to be a stretch task for all VAST Challenge participants!
Applicable technologies: Big graph processing, clustering, temporal visualization of big graphs, structure matching in big graphs
Please visit VAST Challenge 2018: Mini-Challenge 3 for more information and to download the data.  (http://vacommunity.org/VAST+Challenge+2018+MC3)

Important Information about the VAST Challenge
Participants are welcome to enter one, two, or all three of the Mini-Challenges. Entries may be submitted by teams or individuals. Submission deadline is July 13, 2018 at 11:59 pm Pacific Daylight Time (UTC/GMT -9 hours).  Entries will be judged based on the criteria appropriate to the specific Mini-Challenge. Selected award winners will be asked to present their submission at the VAST Challenge Workshop on Oct 21, 2018, during the IEEE VIS 2018 conference. Award winning participants will be contacted by August 14, 2018.
All Challenge participants are invited to submit a two-page summary of their entry for inclusion in the IEEE VIS 2018 electronic conference proceedings. All participants will also allowed to present a poster at the conference showcasing their work.
Data and detailed challenge descriptions are available at: http://vacommunity.org/VAST+Challenge+2018
For questions, please email vast-challenge at ieeevis.org<mailto:vast-challenge at ieeevis.org>.

VAST Challenge Committee Chairs
Kris Cook, Pacific Northwest National Laboratory
Jordan Crouser, Smith College
Georges Grinstein, University of Massachusetts
Mark Whiting, Pacific Northwest National Laboratory