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Global Terrorism Database
What is the GTD?
The Global Terrorism Database (GTD) is an event-level dataset maintained by the University of Maryland. It contains over 200,000 records of terrorist attacks worldwide, spanning from 1970 to 2020.
Data Collection & Quality
Data are collected from multiple open sources. The GTD research team integrates and standardizes them to ensure consistency over time, performing rigorous quality control, retrospective coding, and cross-referencing with other terrorism databases to identify and include missing events.
Data Contents
Each record represents a single terrorist incident and includes detailed information such as the date and location of the attack, type of weapon used, targets and victims, perpetrators, and claims of responsibility. Additional variables describe casualties, outcomes, and data sources. A full codebook and documentation can be found on the GTD website.
Data Cleaning & Processing
During our analysis of the GTD dataset, we identified and processed numerous data columns. Several columns presented significant sparsity and were excluded from our visualizations due to limited utility for our narrative. We strategically created multiple specialized JSON files tailored to each visualization type in our project, extracting only the most relevant features for deeper insights. Despite its comprehensive nature, the GTD dataset proved manageable and didn't present insurmountable technical challenges during our processing pipeline.
Implementation & Challenges
Throughout the development of this project, we encountered minimal significant implementation difficulties. Our team successfully managed the data pipeline, developed robust visualizations, and maintained code quality throughout the workflow. The combination of careful planning and agile problem-solving allowed us to work efficiently and deliver a comprehensive, well integrated visualization platform that effectively communicates complex patterns in the GTD data.
