ConTraffic Visual Analytics in Support to Customs Risk-Analysis

Abstract

Customs risk analysis is crucial for detecting fraud and contraband goods in the massive flows of internationally traded goods. Most of non-bulk goods are transported in shipping containers and, as customs can control only about 2% of them, efficient customs risk analysis is crucial. Recently EU customs got access to massive volumes of shipping containers traffic data which can assist their risk assessment process. In order to support EU customs in this domain the Joint Research Centre of the European Commission has developed the ConTraffic visual analytics application which is currently used by EU customs on an experimental basis. This paper presents the main architectural elements of the application and some visualization and user-interaction techniques employed that proved to be appropriate for analyzing tens of thousands of container traffic data.