Three-dimensional graph drawing

Graph drawing research has been mostly oriented toward two-dimensional drawings. This paper describes an investigation of fundamental aspects of three-dimensional graph drawing. In particular we give three results concerning the space required for three-dimensional drawings. We show how to produce a grid drawing of an arbitraryn-vertex graph with all vertices located at integer grid points, in ann×2n×2n grid, such that no pair of edges cross. This grid size is optimal to within a constant. We also show how to convert an orthogonal two-dimensional drawing in anH×V integer grid to a three-dimensional drawing with volume. Using this technique we show, for example, that three-dimensional drawings of binary trees can be computed with volume . We give an algorithm for producing drawings of rooted trees in which thez-coordinate of a node represents the depth of the node in the tree; our algorithm minimizes thefootprint of the drawing, that is, the size of the projection in thexy plane. Finally, we list significant unsolved problems in algorithms for three-dimensional graph drawing. This work was performed as part of the Information Visualization Group(IVG) at the University of Newcastle. The IVG is supported in part by IBM Toronto Laboratory.     

Parametric graph drawing

A diagram is a drawing on the plane that represents a graph like structure, where nodes are represented by symbols and edges are represented by curves connecting pairs of symbols. An automatic layout facility is a tool that receives as input a graph like structure and is able to produce a diagram that nicely represents such a structure. Many systems use diagrams in the interaction with the users; thus, automatic layout facilities and algorithms for graphs layout have been extensively studied in the last years. We present a new approach in designing an automatic layout facility. Our approach is based on a modular management of a large collection of algorithms and on a strategy that, given the requirements of an application, selects a suitable algorithm for such requirements. The proposed approach has been used for designing the automatic layout facility of Diagram Server, a network server that offers to its clients several facilities for managing diagrams     

Using graph parsing for automatic graph drawing

This paper presents a procedure for automatically drawing directed graphs. Our system, Clan-based Graph Drawing Tool (CG), uses a unique clan-based graph decomposition to determine intrinsic substructures (clans) in the graph and to produce a parse tree. The tree is given attributes that specify the node layout. CG then uses tree properties with the addition of “routing nodes” to route the edges. The objective of the system is to provide, automatically, an aesthetically pleasing visual layout for arbitrary directed graphs. The prototype has shown the strengths of this approach. The innovative strategy of clan-based graph decomposition is the first digraph drawing technique to analyze locality in the graph in two dimensions. The typical approach to drawing digraphs uses a single dimension, level, to arrange the nodes     

A planar graph drawing program

This paper describes a program, written in FORTRAN, for a 64K I.C.L. 4130 which will accept data describing the ordering of nodes and branches within the regions of a planar graph, and generate a two-dimensional representation, without crossovers, from these data. The program was written to provide one of the basic ‘tools’ required in the development of a printed wiring board layout program for the electronics industry The program generates display code which is sent to a satellite PDP-7 computer driving a 340 display. On completion of the automatic drawing phase an interactive phase is entered in which the user can ‘tidy’ and label the drawing, by means of keyboard and light-pen commands Brief notes are included on the hardware, the data structures package (MINIJASP, derived from ASP) and the graphics package, employed.     

Enhancement of a graph drawing package

An extendable graph drawing package of Fortran subroutines enabling novice programmers to produce a wide variety of charts easily is described. It provides linear, logarithmic and normal probability scales as well as polar graphs. SIMPLEPLOT Mark 2 provides plotting facilities including curve drawing, linear and quadratic regression and the capability for the more experienced programmer to exercise greater control over the appearance of graphs. The design criteria for the package are discussed and a summary of facilities is given.     

The “Map” in the mental map: Experimental results in dynamic graph drawing

Preserving the mental map is frequently cited by dynamic graph drawing algorithm designers as an important optimization criterion. There have been a number of definitions for mental map preservation and many different algorithmic approaches to drive dynamic graph drawing to satisfy these definitions. One of the most frequently used definitions is that of Coleman and Parker where “the placement of existing nodes and edges should change as little as possible when a change is made to the graph.” A number of experiments have been run to test the effectiveness of this definition from a usability perspective. To date, no experiment has found conclusive evidence that supports the effectiveness of the mental map in the comprehension of a dynamic graph series. In this paper, we summarize the experiments conducted on this definition of mental map preservation and provide recommendations to designers and researchers to fully understand when the mental map supports user tasks.     

Mental map preserving graph drawing using simulated annealing

Visualizing graphs has been studied extensively in the community of graph drawing and information visualization over the years. In some applications, the user is required to interact with a graph by making slight changes to the underlying graph structure. To visualize graphs in such an interactive environment, it is desirable that the differences between the displays of the original and the modified graphs be kept minimal, allowing the user to comprehend the changes in the graph structure faster. As the mental map concept refers to the presentation of a person’s mind while exploring visual information, the better the mental map is preserved, the easier the structure change of a graph is understood. It is somewhat surprising that preserving the user’s mental map has largely been ignored in the graph drawing community in the past. We propose an effective mental-map-preserving graph drawing algorithm for straight-line drawings of general undirected graphs based on the simulated-annealing technique. Our experimental results and questionnaire analysis suggest this new approach to be promising.     

GraphSET,a tool for simultaneous graph drawing

Problems in simultaneous graph drawing involve the layout of several graphs on a shared vertex set. This paper describes a Graph Simultaneous Embedding Tool, GraphSET, designed to allow the investigation of a wide range of graph embedding problems. GraphSET can be used in the study of several variants of simultaneous embedding including simultaneous geometric embedding, simultaneous embedding with fixed edges, and colored simultaneous embedding with the vertex set partitioned into color classes. The tool has three primary uses: (i) studying theoretical problems in simultaneous graph drawing through the production of examples and counterexamples, (ii) producing layouts of given classes of graphs using built‐in implementations of known algorithms, and (iii) providing a platform for development and implementation of new algorithms and data structures for all variants of simultaneous graph embedding. We also describe the design decisions involved in the construction of GraphSET in terms of the requirements dictated by its applications. GraphSET along with movies illustrating its utility are available at http://graphset.cs.arizona.edu . Copyright © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Online dynamic reordering

We present a pipelining, dynamically tunable reorder operator for providing user control during long running, data- intensive operations. Users can see partial results and accordingly direct the processing by specifying preferences for various data items; data of interest is prioritized for early processing. The reordering mechanism is efficient and non-blocking and can be used over arbitrary data streams from files and indexes, as well as continuous data feeds. We also investigate several policies for the reordering based on the performance goals of various typical applications. We present performance results for reordering in the context of an online aggregation implementation in Informix and in the context of sorting and scrolling in a large-scale spreadsheet. Our experiments demonstrate that for a variety of data distributions and applications, reordering is responsive to dynamic preference changes, imposes minimal overheads in overall completion time, and provides dramatic improvements in the quality of the feedback over time. Surprisingly, preliminary experiments indicate that online reordering can also be useful in traditional batch query processing, because it can serve as a form of pipelined, approximate sorting. Received April 28, 2000 / Accepted June 23, 2000     

The topological drawing of a graph: Construction methods

This paper considers construction algorithms for the topological 2-D drawing of a graph. These algorithms allow to store, describe and modify the existing information on the drawing of a graph. Finally, we introduce necessary notions and structures to solve the problem of the topological 2-D drawing of a graph.     

权长相合的带权无向图画图算法

针对带权无向图的输出需用边长反映权值大小的问题,提出了一种基于遗传算法的带权无向图画图算法,通过对顶点坐标的编码进行交叉和变异来得到理想的节点坐标,变异算子结合了非一致性变异和单点邻域变异,并在适应度函数中运用顶点平均距离、边交叉数、多度顶点相关边夹角均匀度、边的权值长度比一致程度四个美学标准。实验结果表明,该算法画出的图形连线无交叉,分支清晰,权值—长度相合,能得到清晰、美观且能直观反映权值的可视化输出结果,可应用于带权无向图的可视化输出系统的设计。     

Coherent time-varying graph drawing with multifocus+context interaction

We present a new approach for time-varying graph drawing that achieves both spatiotemporal coherence and multifocus+context visualization in a single framework. Our approach utilizes existing graph layout algorithms to produce the initial graph layout, and formulates the problem of generating coherent time-varying graph visualization with the focus+context capability as a specially tailored deformation optimization problem. We adopt the concept of the super graph to maintain spatiotemporal coherence and further balance the needs for aesthetic quality and dynamic stability when interacting with time-varying graphs through focus+context visualization. Our method is particularly useful for multifocus+context visualization of time-varying graphs where we can preserve the mental map by preventing nodes in the focus from undergoing abrupt changes in size and location in the time sequence. Experiments demonstrate that our method strikes a good balance between maintaining spatiotemporal coherence and accentuating visual foci, thus providing a more engaging viewing experience for the users.     

A fuzzy genetic algorithm for automatic orthogonal graph drawing

This paper reflects results of research related to developing a new methodology for automatic graph drawing based on applying genetic algorithms. The methodology has permitted the elaboration of a hybrid technique that combines the most popular, classical, topology-shape-metric approach to orthogonal drawings on the grid and a genetic algorithm that is directed, in its evolutionary process, at multicriteria decision making in a fuzzy environment. In the traditional use of the topology-shape-metric approach, a single fixed planar embedding is obtained in the planarization step. Thereafter this embedding is subjected to the orthogonalization and compaction steps. However, this sequence does not guarantee that the fixed planar embedding will generate a final drawing of a good quality. Moreover, every topology-shape-metric step is classified as a NP-hard problem, and choices as well as heuristics used in previous stages have a direct impact on subsequent ones. Taking this into account, the developed hybrid technique generates a greater number of planar embeddings by varying the order of edges’ insertion when forming the planar embeddings in planarization step. Thus, the problem is formulated as a permutation-based combinatorial optimization problem. The genetic algorithm is applied at the planarization step of the topology-shape-metric. This allows one to generate the population with the corresponding number of planar embeddings. Each planar embedding obtained in the planarization step is submitted to the orthogonalization and compaction. Their results serve for applying the procedures of multicriteria decision making in a fuzzy environment. Thus, in the evolutionary process, the genetic algorithm is able to select individuals, which provide more harmonious solutions (relatively of the solutions obtained with traditional applying the topology-shape-metric approach) from the point of view of the aesthetic criteria that are usually utilized at the three steps of automatic graph drawing. This is convincingly demonstrated by experimental results given in the paper.     

A fast successive over-relaxation algorithm for force-directed network graph drawing

Force-directed approach is one of the most widely used methods in graph drawing research. There are two main problems with the traditional force-directed algorithms. First, there is no mature theory to ensure the convergence of iteration sequence used in the algorithm and further, it is hard to estimate the rate of convergence even if the convergence is satisfied. Second, the running time cost is increased intolerablely in drawing largescale graphs, and therefore the advantages of the force-directed approach are limited in practice. This paper is focused on these problems and presents a sufficient condition for ensuring the convergence of iterations. We then develop a practical heuristic algorithm for speeding up the iteration in force-directed approach using a successive over-relaxation (SOR) strategy. The results of computational tests on the several benchmark graph datasets used widely in graph drawing research show that our algorithm can dramatically improve the performance of force-directed approach by decreasing both the number of iterations and running time, and is 1.5 times faster than the latter on average.     

网络图自动绘制的超松弛加速算法

大规模网络的自动布局与绘制问题近年来得到了广泛的研究,其中基于力导引优化的迭代算法成为最成功的方法之一.传统力导引算法在理论与实践中存在两个困难,一是迭代序列收敛性判定及收敛速度估计在理论上尚不完备,二是针对大型网络使用迭代算法的运行时间开销巨大从而极大地限制了其实用价值.本文对这两方面难题进行了探索,首先基于非线性迭代理论给出力导引优化迭代过程收敛速度估计的一种理论方法,其次基于超松弛加速原理给出加速力导引迭代收敛过程的一种实用启发式方法.通过对基准测试数据及应用中的图实例数据进行的实验结果表明,与现有方法相比,本文的超松弛加速方法能有效降低运行时间开销,平均加速达1.5倍左右.本文最后对下一步工作进行了总结和展望.     

VB中数据拟合与图形绘制方法(英文)

针对VB集成环境下进行数据拟合和曲线图绘制的问题,给出了三种处理方法:(1)直接编写代码;(2)调用MatrixVB库中的函数;(3)使用Measurement Studio的数据分析和绘图控件.给出了具体的方法和主要代码,并在一个指数曲线附近随机生成一系列数据并用这3种方法进行拟合与绘图.结果表明,调用MatrixVB库中的函数或使用Measurement Studio控件比直接编写代码简洁方便.     

Looking for narrow interfaces in automatic differentiation using graph drawing

Automatic differentiation is a powerful technique for evaluating derivatives of functions given in the form of a high-level programming language such as Fortran, C, or C++. This technique is superior, in terms of accuracy, to numerical differentiation because it avoids the truncation error involved in divided difference approximations. In automatic differentiation, the program is treated as a potentially very long composition of elementary functions to which the chain rule of differential calculus is applied over and over again. Because of the associativity of the chain rule, there is room for different strategies computing the same numerical results but whose computational cost may vary significantly. Several strategies exploiting high-level structure of the underlying computer code are known to reduce computational cost as opposed to blindly applying automatic differentiation. An example includes “interface contraction” where one takes advantage of the fact that the number of variables passed between subroutines is small compared with the number of propagated directional derivatives. Unfortunately, these so-called narrow interfaces are not immediately available. The present study investigates the use of the VCG graph drawing tool to recognize narrow interfaces in the computational graph, a certain directed acyclic graph used to represent data dependences of variables in the underlying computer code.     

矿井通风网络图自动绘制技术研究

为了掌握目前矿井通风网络图自动绘制技术的研究现状以进行进一步的研究,从通风系统图网络结构信息的采集、网络通路的生成以及网络图的绘制等3个方面进行详细分析;阐述了这3个方面的研究内容和已经取得的研究成果,并且分析了目前这3个方面的研究存在的一些不足之处;最后指出了下一步的研究方向:引入人工智能,研究更高效的网络通路生成算法和怎样使网络图更简单美观。     

利用遗传算法改进DAG绘制的方法

DAG图（Directed Acyclic Graph）广泛应用于数据库建模、工程设计等领域。DAG图一般用矩阵来存储,能够将矩阵存储的DAG图正确、美观地画出来,使得DAG图更直观,清晰,方便各种问题的分析和处理。DAG图的绘制包含分层、最小化边交叉数和删除哑结点。提出了基于遗传算法的分层和最小化边交叉数的方法和删除哑结点的启发式算法。实例结果表明提出的方法能有效解决DAG图绘制中的交叉点问题。