<![CDATA[Central Aceh Regency is one of the regions in Aceh Province influenced by the tectonic activity of the Sumatra Fault, resulting in relatively high seismic activity. This study aims to analyze the spatial and temporal changes in earthquake patterns in Central Aceh Regency during 2004–2015 using Geographic Information Systems (GIS) and animated map visualization. The data used in this study were obtained from the United States Geological Survey (USGS) and the Meteorology, Climatology, and Geophysics Agency (BMKG) in CSV format, including parameters such as event time, magnitude, depth, latitude, and longitude. The research stages consisted of data preprocessing, data de-duplication, Kernel Density Estimation (KDE) analysis, spatial-temporal analysis, and visualization using the QGIS Temporal Controller. The coordinate system applied in this study was WGS 84 (EPSG:4326). The results indicate a shift in earthquake epicenter distribution from the northwest toward the southeast of Central Aceh during the observation period. In 2004, 2,006 earthquake events were recorded with an average magnitude of 4.49 Mw and an average depth of 84.82 km, while in 2015, 116 events were recorded with an average magnitude of 5.1 Mw and an average depth of 30 km. Heatmap analysis revealed increasing seismic concentration near the active Sumatra Fault zone. The animated map visualization successfully illustrated the temporal dynamics of seismic activity and can support spatial-based disaster mitigation planning. The main contribution of this study is the development of a GIS-based spatial-temporal analysis model that not only presents earthquake point distribution but also dynamically shows changes in seismic concentration through heatmaps and animated visualization. The findings can serve as an initial basis for identifying earthquake-prone zones and supporting spatial data-based disaster mitigation planning.]]>
