Entity extraction, also known as entity recognition or named entity recognition (NER), is a natural language processing (NLP) technique that involves identifying then classifying elements from unstructured text into categories such as names of people, organizations, locations, dates, and other relevant entities. Extracting such information enables an investigator to get a clear picture of a case by identifying which information is important and how information is connected.
Entity extraction becomes increasingly necessary as the volume of data increases, such as when a case involves vast amounts of documents, social media posts, news articles, and other textual data sources. Entity extraction tools can achieve rapid and accurate entity extraction at scale using a combination of computational methods, extraction rules, conditional logical, algorithms and machine learning models.
More broadly, in the fields of intelligence, defence and the military, entity extraction plays a vital role by the providing insights and situational awareness that is necessary for effective decision-making. Intelligence agencies leverage this technology to sift through massive datasets to in order identify potential threats, monitor dangerous activities, and track the movements of target individuals. Entity extraction is critical in such scenarios since key patterns and relationships often remain hidden unstructured data. By viewing entities in various formats such as timelines and advanced network graphs, analysts can gain a clearer understanding of the interactions between various elements and threat actors, which is crucial for developing comprehensive threat assessments in order act in a timely manner.
In this article, we aim to help you identify the best entity extraction tool for your needs, ensuring you can explore your data effectively and achieve optimal results in your investigative work.
What are entity extraction tools?
An Entity Extraction Tool is a software application designed to automatically identify and extract specific data entities from unstructured text. Entities can include names of people, organizations, locations, dates, and other relevant information. By recognizing and categorizing these components of language, entity extraction tools can convert raw text into structured data, making it easier to analyze and use for various applications, including investigations, data mining, and fast information retrieval.
Entity extraction tool criteria
Interface for importing and processing documents and files
Entity extraction tools typically offer a user-friendly interface that facilitates the importing and processing of documents and files. This interface is designed to streamline the data processing workflow, allowing users to easily upload and manage large volumes of data. Such may include features such as drag-and-drop functionality, batch processing capabilities, and intuitive dashboards that display the status and progress of data importation. This simplifies the initial steps of data preparation and freeing up users to focus on extracting meaningful insights from their documents efficiently.
Sintelix features many ways to import data, including a simple drag-and-drop UI, database connections and much more…
Support for importing a variety of file formats
Entity extraction tools are equipped with support for importing a wide range of file formats, catering to the diverse needs of users. This versatility ensures that users can work with documents in various formats such as PDFs, Word documents, Excel spreadsheets, plain text files, and more. By accommodating multiple file types, these tools eliminate the need for manual conversion, allowing for seamless data integration and reducing the potential for data loss or human error during the import process.
Sintelix can import over 1600 different file types, providing both flexibility and convenience!
Integration with databases and APIs for importing data
To enhance functionality, entity extraction tools often integrate with databases and APIs, enabling seamless data importation from external sources. These integrations allow users to access data from various platforms, such as SQL databases, cloud storage, and web APIs, providing a comprehensive approach to data acquisition.
Sintelix provides a comprehensive API as well as access to over 200+ data connectors, making integration easy!
Built-in entities available out-of-the-Box: Names, places, locations and others
Most entity extraction tools come with a set of built-in entities that are available out-of-the-box, such as names, places, locations, organisations, and times. These predefined entities are crucial for quickly identifying and extracting common data types without the need for extensive configuration. The tools utilize natural language processing algorithms to recognize these entities accurately, providing users with immediate insights into the core components of their datasets and enabling faster data analysis.
Sintelix provides 28 entities out-of-the-box, plus the ability to add your own custom entities (see below). It is also highly configurable, allowing you to adjust how entities are extracted if needed.
Ability to add your own custom entities
In addition to built-in entities, many entity extraction tools offer the capability to define and add custom entities tailored to specific needs or domains. For example, in a law enforcement investigation, custom entities may include lists of weapons, drugs, and vehicle types. Custom entities allow investigators and analysts to spot patterns faster and organise information easily.
Sintelix allows the user to include any number of custom entities via its “dictionaries” feature:
Extract entities from multiple languages
Entity extraction tools may support multilingual capabilities, allowing users to extract entities from documents in multiple languages. This feature is particularly valuable for scenarios such as investigating a national security threat which involves criminals who are coordinating from multiple regions and in multiple languages. Such tools utilize advanced language processing algorithms to identify and extract entities accurately across different languages. Note that accuracy can differ wildly from tool to tool, therefore it’s important to test and inquire about accuracy when selecting a tool.
Sintelix supports 8 languages at very high accuracy which is crucial for effective down-stream processing to gain reliable insights for decision-making.
Entity fusion
Entity fusion, also known as co-reference resolution, is a sophisticated feature of entity extraction tools where entities that reference the same person (for example) in different ways are intelligently merged into a single entity. For example, if a person named Sarah Doe is referred to as “Sarah Doe” at the start of a document and “Sarah D.” later down the page, an entity extraction tool should be able to automatically deduce that both variations refer to the same individual. This capability enhances data accuracy by combining fragmented data points into a cohesive whole, enabling users to gain a comprehensive view of entities and their relationships across datasets.
Sintelix automatically fuses entities with very high accuracy.
Visually explore connections via network diagrams
Entity extraction tools often provide visualization features, such as network diagrams, to help users visually explore connections and relationships between extracted entities. These diagrams offer a graphical representation of entities and depth of their connections, making it easier for users to identify patterns, clusters, and key connections within their data. By enabling visual exploration, users can uncover insights that may not be immediately apparent through text-based analysis alone, facilitating more effective decision-making.
Sintelix provides industry-leading link analysis capabilities, including interactive network diagrams, timelines, map overlays, and tables. Diagrams are are easy to use and explore.
Interface for viewing, inspecting, and editing documents and files
Some entity extraction tools include an interface for viewing, inspecting, and editing source documents and files. This interface provides users with a detailed view of the extracted entities and the context in which they appear, allowing the user to inspect and correct any inaccuracies. Editing entity extraction markup should not impact or modify the original source files.
Sintelix provides multiple document and data editors giving analysts full control over how data is processed.
Top Entity Extraction Tool Comparison
Below we have compared a selection of the top 3 tools for Entity Extraction. *Jump to Disclaimer*
Sintelix
Link: https://sintelix.com/
Pros
- Premier entity extraction solution
- High accuracy
- Infinite entity types
- Explore extracted entities via network diagrams
- 200+ data connectors, plus API
Cons
- Sintelix is a comprehensive product with many features, thus can require a time investment to get the most value
Sintelix is the premier entity extraction solution for law enforcement, defence, military, finance and intelligence purposes. Continuously developed and improved for over a decade, Sintelix combines advanced data ingestion, from both databases and 1600+ file types, as well as powerful link analysis capability into a single easy-to-use tool. Sintelix is easily extendable via APIs and its built-in app builder.
Sintelix features 28 built-in entities, as well as being designed to support custom entities via “Dictionaries”, which are essentially lists of entities along with basic extraction rules, allowing the analyst to easily add as many entities as needed. Sintelix also offers the most customisable experience working with entities on the market, allowing the analyst to tweak settings at each layer of the entity extraction process from entity extraction behaviours through to categorization.
Sintelix features a wide variety of advanced and useful network layouts out of the box to view relationship between entities. Examples include Force Directed, Ring, Multi Rings, Hierarchies, Tiled, Map overlays and complex groups. You can also query and search your data with precision via Sintelix’s advanced search, including searching by keywords, entities, and even combinations of search methods.
Using the Sintelix API, Sintelix can also be used as part of an ETL or data pipeline to extract entities and pipe results to any given tool or solution used by an organisation.
Free Trial: Yes
Price: Request quote: https://sintelix.com/pricing/
I2 TextChart
The i2 Analyst’s Notebook is a visual analysis tool designed to help analysts and investigators uncover hidden networks, patterns, and trends within datasets. I2 has been traditionally suited to working with structured data, although it provides some limited support for unstructured data via it’s TextChart add-on. I2 aims to facilitate multidimensional analyses efficiently, where analysts can create detailed link and timeline charts that visually represent relationships and events.
If you are an i2 user and would like to have a complete and comprehensive entity extraction solution within i2, you can achieve this via the Sintelix i2 Plugin. The Sintelix i2 plugin enables users to drop in files directly into i2, then automatically extract entities and add them to i2 networks. This removes the need to manually create each entity by hand via the “insert from palette” menu item from within i2. For more details on the Sintelix i2 plugin, click here: https://sintelix.com/integrations/i2-range-of-products/
i2 Analyst’s Notebook is used predominantly in law enforcement and military settings, however it is also can be used for fraud detection and cyber investigations. i2 functionalities include social network analysis, geospatial analysis, and temporal analysis. The platform also includes collaborative features via i2 iBase, making it possible for teams to work together on the same dataset and share insights.
Pros
- Basic entity extraction
- Advanced entity extraction is available in i2 via the Sintelix i2 Plugin: https://sintelix.com/integrations/i2-range-of-products
Cons
- Supports a limited number of file types
- Supports many languages out-of-the-box but at a lower accuracy
- Requires training to use effectively
- i2 can be a pricy solution
Free Trial: Yes
Price:
- i2 – Request quote: https://i2group.com/i2-analysts-notebook
- Sintelix i2 Plugin – Request qoute: https://sintelix.com/integrations/i2-range-of-products
NetOwl
Pros
- Advanced sentiment analysis
Cons
-
Hard to customize
-
Primitive UI
NetOwl is a suite of Text Analytics and Identity Analytics products, which includes a module for entity extraction. Whilst not as comprehensive as a solution like Sintelix, it provides numerous built-in entities.
A stand-out feature is NetOwl’s entity-based sentiment analysis which goes beyond basic positive vs. negative analysis. It captures information such as opinions, attitudes, intentions, and behaviors. Sentiment analysis is used predominantly in a business setting to assess consumer engagement, however, there are intelligence gathering scenarios that can be relevant, such as event monitoring.
The NetOwl UI is a bit clunky and can take some perseverance to get results. It is easy to spend substantial time attempting to navigate it’s many nested drop-down menus (see screenshot above). NetOwl also features a REST API for integrating with other services.
Free Trial: Unknown
Price: Request quote: https://www.netowl.com/
Conclusion
In conclusion, entity extraction tools are indispensable in the fields of intelligence, defence, financial and military operations. They provide essential capabilities for efficiently processing data, improving situational awareness, detecting threats proactively, enhancing collaboration, and optimizing resources. As global threats continue to evolve, the importance of these tools in safeguarding national and global security cannot be overstated. We hope our analysis above has helped you make an informed decision as you assess which is the right tool for you. You can find more information on Sintelix’s entity extraction capabilities here or via the links below.
Appendix
Disclaimer
The comparisons and reviews above represent our own opinion only, based on our own research. Great care was taken to respect the terms and conditions of each product. As a result, in some cases the accuracy of our assessment is limited by only what is publicly accessible, which may or may not include product websites, third-party websites, forums and online documentation where available. We have done our best to be as accurate as possible.
