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Australian Signals Directorate launches open source​ data visualisation tool

ASD touts Constellation as a data analysis application enabling data access, federation, and manipulation activities across large and complex datasets.
Written by Asha Barbaschow, Contributor

The Australian Signals Directorate (ASD) has open sourced its own data visualisation and analysis software tool that it says can be used to solve large and complex problems in a "simple and intuitive way".

Constellation, available on GitHub, can be used to identify trends and patterns in complex datasets, and can handle billions of inputs, ASD said.

It allows users to import data in many different formats and presents that information in multiple graphic views to enable deeper analysis.

The software is a NetBeans Java application designed to run on either Windows or Linux desktops.

The Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation's (CSIRO) Data61 assisted the transition of Constellation to an open source model.

See also: Commercialisation opportunity for Data61's Data Airlock system as interest ramps up

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"Putting this powerful software into the open source community is ASD's way of giving back to the community. The sky really is the limit with Constellation," said ASD Director-General, and soon to be Director-General of Security for the Australian Security Intelligence Organisation, Mike Burgess.

"I hope this tool will help generate scientific and other breakthroughs that will benefit all Australians."

According to the ASD, Constellation can be used by industry, academia, governments, research facilities, or individuals to solve some of Australia's greatest data-driven challenges by understanding patterns in any rich feature dataset, including to analyse the spread of disease or explore chemical compositions.

ASD said the software is suited to any network dataset with a rich feature dataset, including social network data and network infrastructure.

 "Providing the application on GitHub allows the open source community to develop and expand the software to meet their individual needs, while also enhancing its capability for the benefit of the whole community," a statement from ASD explained.

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