Analyzing large, multivariate graphs is an important problem in many domains, yet such graphs are challenging to visualize. In this paper, we introduce a novel, scalable, tree-table multivariate graph visualization technique, which makes many tasks related to multivariate graph analysis easier to achieve. The core principle we follow is to selectively query for nodes or subgraphs of interest and visualize these subgraphs as a spanning tree of the graph. The tree is laid out linearly, which enables us to juxtapose the nodes with a table visualization where diverse attributes can be shown. We also use this table as an adjacency matrix, so that the resulting technique is a hybrid node-link adjacency matrix technique. We implement this concept in Juniper and complement it with a set of interaction techniques that enable analysts to dynamically grow, restructure, and aggregate the tree, as well as change the layout or show paths between nodes. We demonstrate the utility of our tool in usage scenarios for different multivariate networks: a bipartite network of scholars, papers, and citation metrics and a multitype network of story characters, places, books, etc.
@cite_0: This paper presents a Java-based hyperbolic-style browser designed to render RDF files as structured ontological maps. The program was motivated by the need to browse the content of a web-accessible ontology server: WEB KB-2. The ontology server contains descriptions of over 74,500 object types derived from the WordNet 1.7 lexical database and can be accessed using RDF syntax. Such a structure creates complications for hyperbolic-style displays. In WEB KB-2 there are 140 stable ontology link types and a hyperbolic display needs to filter and iconify the view so different link relations can be distinguished in multi-link views. Our browsing tool, OntoRama, is therefore motivated by two possibly interfering aims: the first to display up to 10 times the number of nodes in a hyperbolic-style view than using a conventional graphics display; secondly, to render the ontology with multiple links comprehensible in that view.
@cite_8: Many real-world data warehouse applications involve navigation of large highly connected hierarchies e.g. web pages, product catalogs, and document hot topics hierarchies. Quite often users are confused and overwhelmed with many complex displays. This paper discusses a new invisible link technique for linking a large highly connected graph in a hyperbolic space without cluttering the display. Only the primary links are shown to the user. All other cross-links are hidden in the property of each node and invisible to the user. These invisible links only appear when the user focuses on the node. “Invisible link” allows a user to freely focus on the hierarchy of interest.
@cite_39: We demonstrate the H3Viewer graph drawing library, which can be run from a standalone program or in conjunction with other programs such as SGI's Site Manager application. Our layout and drawing algorithms support interactive navigation of large graphs up to 100,000 edges. We present an adaptive drawing algorithm with a guaranteed frame rate. Both layout and navigation occur in 3D hyperbolic space, which provides a view of a large neighborhood around an easily changeable point of interest. We find an appropriate spanning tree to use as the backbone for fast layout and uncluttered drawing, and non-tree links can be displayed on demand. Our methods are appropriate when node or link annotations can guide the choice of a good parent from among all of the incoming links. Such annotations can be constructed using only a small amount of domain-specific knowledge, thus rendering tractable many graphs which may seem rather densely connected at first glance.
The idea of tree-based graph drawing goes back at least two decades. Munzner uses a spanning tree as the structure to lay out a graph in hyperbolic space @cite_39 and shows links that are not part of the tree on demand. @cite_8 take a similar approach, but they also introduce duplicates to resolve some ambiguities. Similarly, Ontorama @cite_0 uses a hyperbolic layout for a spanning tree and supplements it with a second view showing a linear tree that allows duplicate nodes.