Interactive digital map of African political violence developed

Leading UK map maker and GIS consultancy, Lovell Johns, has created an animated data visualisation and detailed interactive map as part of the Armed Conflict Location & Event Data (ACLED) project, to illustrate 20 years of political violence on the continent.
ACLED is the most detailed and comprehensive collection of political violence and protest data to be made publically available. It records date and location specific information regarding various types of events, the groups involved, number of fatalities, and changes in territorial control in developing African states.

Almost 200,000 individual political events are depicted in the interactive digital map - which charts the entire continent, including conflicts in Nigeria, Sudan and Democratic Rwanda Republic of The Congo. It was developed by specialists at Lovell Johns using Geographic Information Systems (GIS) techniques.

Business Development Manager, Symon Porteous, described the project as “a really interesting project to build, as a detailed and fascinating dataset has been brought to life through a time-series interactive map, allowing you browse the data and find something new each time you visit”

Using geospatial data provided by ACLED spanning a 20-year period, beginning in 1997, the GIS consultants at Lovell Johns created the animated data visualisation, which communicated the density of political violence in Africa over that time period.

Symon Porteous explained:

“The interactive maps are built using two technologies, CARTO and Leaflet; CARTO (formerly CartoDB) is an online location intelligence and data visualisation tool, and Leaflet is an open-source JavaScript library for mobile-friendly interactive mapping. This dual technological approach provides data that allows the illustrated changes to also tell an interesting, engaging story, which makes it perfect for a project such as ACLED.”

Oxfordshire based Lovell Johns has a dedicated team of GIS consultants, offering bespoke geospatial data and analysis services to the public and private sectors. Lovell Johns provides public and private sector organisations of all sizes with geographic information and data mapping solutions, utilising over 50 years’ experience.