Abstract—A compound graph is a frequently encountered type of data set. Relations are given between items, and a hierarchy is defined on the items as well. We present a new method for visualizing such compound graphs. Our approach is based on visually bundling the adjacency edges, i.e., non-hierarchical edges, together. We realize this as follows. We assume that the hierarchy is shown via a standard tree visualization method. Next, we bend each adjacency edge, modeled as a B-spline curve, toward the polyline defined by the path via the inclusion edges from one node to another. This hierarchical bundling reduces visual clutter and also visualizes implicit adjacency edges between parent nodes that are the result of explicit adjacency edges between their respective child nodes. Furthermore, hierarchical edge bundling is a generic method which can be used in conjunction with existing tree visualization techniques. We illustrate our technique by providing example visualizations and discuss the results based on an informal evaluation provided by potential users of such visualizations.

We present an extremely fast graph drawing algorithm for very large graphs, which we term ACE (for Algebraic multigrid Computation of Eigenvectors). ACE finds an optimal drawing by minimizing a quadratic energy function due to Hall, using a novel algebraic multigrid technique. The algorithm exhibits an improvement of something like two orders of magnitude over the fastest algorithms we are aware of; it draws graphs of a million nodes in less than a minute. Moreover, the algorithm can deal with more general entities, such as graphs with masses and negative weights (to be defined in the text), and it appears to be applicable outside of graph drawing too.

One of the most popular graph drawing methods is based of achieving graphtheoretic target ditsances. This method was used by Kamada and Kawai [15], who formulated it as an energy optimization problem. Their energy is known in the multidimensional scaling (MDS) community as the stress function. In this work, we show how to draw graphs by stress majorization, adapting a technique known in the MDS community for more than two decades. It appears that majorization has advantages over the technique of Kamada and Kawai in running time and stability. We also present a few extensions to the basic energy model which can improve layout quality and computation speed in practice. Majorization-based optimization is essential to these extensions.

We present a novel approach to the aesthetic drawing of undirected graphs. The method has two phases: first embed the graph in a very high dimension and then project it into the 2-D plane using PCA. Experiments we have carried out show the ability of the method to draw graphs of 10 nodes in few seconds. The new method appears to have several advantages over classical methods, including a significantly better running time, a useful inherent capability to exhibit the graph in various dimensions, and an effective means for interactive exploration of large graphs.

Networks have remained a challenge for information visualization designers because of the complex issues of node and link layout coupled with the rich set of tasks that users present. This paper offers a strategy based on two principles: (1) layouts are based on user-defined semantic substrates, which are non-overlapping regions in which node placement is based on node attributes, (2) users interactively adjust sliders to control link visibility to limit clutter and thus ensure comprehensibility of source and destination. Scalability is further facilitated by user control of which nodes are visible. We illustrate our semantic substrates approach as implemented in NVSS 1.0 with legal precedent data for up to 1122 court cases in three regions with 7645 legal citations.

Abstract. We present a novel hierarchical force-directed method for drawing large graphs. The algorithm produces a graph embedding in an Euclidean space E of any dimension. A two or three dimensional drawing of the graph is then obtained by projecting a higher-dimensional embedding into a two or three dimensional subspace of E. Projecting high-dimensional drawings onto two or three dimensions often results in drawings that are “smoother ” and more symmetric. Among the other notable features of our approach are the utilization of a maximal independent set filtration of the set of vertices of a graph, a fast energy function minimization strategy, efficient memory management, and an intelligent initial placement of vertices. Our implementation of the algorithm can draw graphs with tens of thousands of vertices using a negligible amount of memory in less than one minute on a mid-range PC. 1

We introduce an energy model whose minimum energy drawings reveal the clusters of the drawn graph. Here a cluster is a set of nodes with many internal edges and few edges to nodes outside the set. The drawings of the bestknown force and energy models do not clearly show clusters for graphs whose diameter is small relative to the number of nodes. We formally characterize the minimum energy drawings of our energy model. This characterization shows in what sense the drawings separate clusters, and how the distance of separated clusters to the other nodes can be interpreted.

This paper describes a system for Graph dRawing with Intelligent Placement, GRIP. The GRIP system is designed for drawing large graphs and uses a novel multi-dimensional force-directed method together with fast energy function minimization. The system allows for drawing graphs with tens of thousands of vertices in under a minute on a mid-rage PC. To the best of the authors' knowledge GRIP surpasses the fastest previous algorithms. However, speed is not achieved at the expense of quality as the resulting drawings are quite aesthetically pleasing.

We describe MGV, an integrated visualization and exploration system for massive multi-digraph navigation.

Implicit information embedded in semantic web graphs, such as topography, clusters, and disconnected subgraphs is difficult to extract from text files. Visualizations of the graphs can reveal some of these features, but existing systems for visualizing metadata focus on aspects other than understanding the greater structure. In this paper, we present a tool for generating visualizations of ontologies and metadata by using a modified spring embedder to achieve an automatic layout. Through a case study using a mid-sized ontology, we show that interesting information about the data relationships can be extracted through our visualization of the physical graph structure.