VISUAL ANALYTICS / 2024

Exploring equipment incident reporting

A visual analytics dashboard for exploring rebreather incident reports across civilian and military diving.

MY ROLE

Dashboard development · First-author research

TOOLS & METHODS

Python · Dash · Plotly · JavaScript

CONTEXT

IVAPP 2024 · University of Southern Denmark

INTERACTIVE PROTOTYPE

MDIR: explore the evidence.

Linked ocean mapping, visual filters, model comparisons and incident investigations. Explore 1,965 synthetic events across 48,000 item-dives and 280 assets. This separate research prototype uses fictional data; it is not the published dataset or validated operational software.

Open full dashboard ↗

2024IVAPP publication

Dashdashboard framework

749–758paper pages

01 / THE CHALLENGE

The challenge

Incident reports contain valuable evidence, but interpreting relationships across individual accounts can be difficult. How can an interactive view help researchers explore those reports?

02 / MY CONTRIBUTION

My contribution

I built the visualisation dashboard introduced in the IVAPP 2024 paper, using Python with Dash and Plotly, plus some JavaScript. The work formed part of my PhD research into visual analytics and decision support.

03 / DESIGN PROCESS

Design process

The prototype linked a map, timelines and statistical views. Selecting a group of incidents highlighted the same records across views while keeping other records visible for context. Individual incidents could then be opened for closer inspection.

04 / IMPLEMENTATION

Implementation

The published prototype used Dash and Plotly. This case study embeds MDIR - Military Diving Incident Reporting, a separate D3.js visual analytics research prototype. The redesign links equal-area geographic hexagons, incident clusters, selectable distributions, brushed time/depth/age views, equipment-failure matrices, model-rate intervals and investigation evidence. Its reproducible synthetic fleet contains 48,000 primary-item dives, 1,965 events and 280 equipment assets. The records, manufacturers and rates are fictional; this does not reproduce the published dataset or validated operational software. A smaller synthetic demo on the homepage is separate.

05 / OUTCOMES & LIMITATIONS

Outcomes & limitations

Published as a poster paper at IVAPP 2024, the prototype demonstrated linked exploration of rebreather incident reports. Missing fields and approximate locations limited the analysis. The study identified a need for more consistent reporting; it did not measure improvements in incident prevention.

06 / EXPLORE FURTHER