Visualization

In this project, we explored several network visualization tools and performed case studies to identify the set of tools with better capabilities for the interdisciplinary research of network analytics and network visualization.

A graph is a powerful abstraction for representing the relationship among different entities. Visualization of the graph (network) can provide valuable information regarding the structure of the network which may not be apparent otherwise. There are many algorithms and analytics one can perform on a network. Applying different node-based or edge-based analytics on a network help discover meaningful relationships within a network. For researchers and practitioners from a non-computer science background, knowing in detail the implementation of those graph-based analytics and algorithms is often not a feasible strategy. Therefore, we list several free and open-source graph visualization tools, categorize the kind of visual analytics that can be performed using those tools, and provide a comparative analysis of those tools based on some benchmarking criteria focusing on the features and operations these visualization tools provide. We also assess the scalability of these tools for processing large graphs. The comparative analysis we present here will help the practitioners and researchers of graphs to choose the correct tool based on their requirements for a particular task in visual analytics.