Publication Type

Journal Article

Version

publishedVersion

Publication Date

1-2016

Abstract

Node-link diagrams provide an intuitive way to explore networks and have inspired a large number of automated graph layout strategies that optimize aesthetic criteria. However, any particular drawing approach cannot fully satisfy all these criteria simultaneously, producing drawings with visual ambiguities that can impede the understanding of network structure. To bring attention to these potentially problematic areas present in the drawing. this paper presents a technique that highlights common types of visual ambiguities: ambiguous spatial relationships between nodes and edges, visual overlap between community structures, and ambiguity in edge bundling and metanodes. Metrics, including newly proposed metrics for abnormal edge lengths, visual overlap in community structures and node/edge aggregation, are proposed to quantify areas of ambiguity in the drawing. These metrics and others are then displayed using a heatmap-based visualization that provides visual feedback to developers of graph drawing and visualization approaches, allowing them to quickly identify misleading areas. The novel metrics and the heatmap-based visualization allow a user to explore ambiguities in graph layouts from multiple perspectives in order to make reasonable graph layout choices. The effectiveness of the technique is demonstrated through case studies and expert reviews.

Keywords

Visual Ambiguity, Visualization, Node-link diagram, Graph layout, Graph visualization

Discipline

Graphics and Human Computer Interfaces | Software Engineering

Research Areas

Software and Cyber-Physical Systems

Publication

IEEE Transactions on Visualization and Computer Graphics

Volume

22

Issue

1

First Page

359

Last Page

368

ISSN

1077-2626

Identifier

10.1109/TVCG.2015.2467691

Publisher

Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers

Additional URL

https://doi.org/10.1109/TVCG.2015.2467691

Download

Share

COinS