1. A method for deriving a composite tie metric for an edge between nodes of a telecommunication call graph, comprising: receiving a plurality of descriptive data at a computing device from a remote storage device, wherein the plurality of descriptive data includes original values x i,j for a plurality of descriptive attributes j associated with a telecommunication call graph formed by a plurality of edges i between a plurality of nodes, wherein each edge i relates to two nodes of the plurality of nodes, wherein each original value x i,j relates to a unique edge i in the telecommunication call graph and a unique descriptive attribute j for the corresponding edge i, the unique edge i and unique descriptive attribute j forming an edge-attribute pair i,j relating to the corresponding original value x i,j ; at least temporarily storing the plurality of descriptive data in a local storage device; determining scaling factors for each descriptive attribute j in a manner that takes into account a distribution of the original values x i,j for the corresponding descriptive attribute j and a common base for the plurality of descriptive attributes j; determining weighting factors for each descriptive attribute j; and computing a composite tie metric S of a first edge i 1 between first and second nodes based at least in part on a first original value x i 1 ,j 1 for a first attribute j 1 associated with the first edge i 1 , a first scaling factor for the first attribute j 1 , a first weighting factor for the first attribute j 1 , a second original value x i 1 ,j 2 for a second attribute j 2 associated with the first edge i 1 , a second scaling factor for the second attribute j 2 , and a second weighting factor for the second attribute j 2 , wherein the plurality of descriptive attributes j include the first attribute j 1 and the second attribute j 2 .