calebohi/africa-conflict-hotspots

Temporal heatmap visualization of conflict hotspots across Africa (2000–2024) using QGIS # Africa Conflict Hotspots (2000–2024) ## 🧠 Project Overview Conflict across Africa is not evenly distributed; instead, it is concentrated in specific regions that persist or shift over time. This project explores the spatial and temporal distribution of conflict events across Africa from 2000 to 2024 using a heatmap-based visualization approach. By integrating geospatial analysis with temporal animation, the project highlights areas of high conflict intensity and reveals how these hotspots evolve across different regions over time. ## 🎯 Objectives - To analyze the spatial distribution of conflict events across Africa - To identify regions with high concentrations of conflict activity - To examine how conflict hotspots evolve over time (2000–2024) - To visualize conflict intensity using a heatmap approach - To communicate spatial patterns of conflict through temporal animation ## 📊 Data Sources - UCDP Georeferenced Event Dataset (GED) – Global Version Provides disaggregated, georeferenced records of conflict events worldwide. 🔗 ucdp.uu.se - Natural Earth Administrative Boundaries (50m) Provides country-level boundary data used for map context and visualization. 🔗 naturalearthdata.com All datasets used in this project are included in the `/data` folder to ensure full reproducibility of the analysis. ## ⚙️ Methodology ### 📥 Data Acquisition The required datasets were loaded into QGIS, including the UCDP Georeferenced Event Dataset (GED) – Global version and the Natural Earth Admin 0 Countries dataset (50m resolution), which contains global country boundaries. The GED dataset provides disaggregated, georeferenced records of conflict events, while the Natural Earth dataset provides the necessary administrative boundaries for spatial context. ### 🧹 Data Preparation To focus the analysis on Africa, both the country boundaries and conflict event datasets were fil …