Readings14: Graphs and Some Leftovers
Graphs are a huge topic - at some places, they teach a whole class on it! Readings tend to get into the complex details without really discussing the basics. I’ll try in lecture.
Details below, but the required readings for graphs:
- (required) (required) Arrange Networks and Trees (Chapter 9 from Munzner’s Visualization Analysis & Design) (Munzner-09-ArrangeNetworks.pdf 0.9mb).
- (required) TreeVis.net - just look at it
- (required) skim this survey paper - which is long and intimidating, so just skim the first few sections
There are also two “leftover” chapters from Munzner’s book, that I feel are really useful, but didn’t fit anywhere else. Please read these. I was going to have a lecture from them, but I got stuck with academic jury duty instead…
Arrange Spatial Data (Chapter 8 from Munzner’s Visualization Analysis & Design) (Munzner-08-ArrangeSpatial.pdf 1.0mb)
As close as we’ll get to reading about scientific visualization.
Rules of Thumb (Chapter 6 from Munzner’s Visualization Analysis & Design) (Munzner-06-RulesOfThumb.pdf 0.5mb)
We skipped this chapter, so I’ll add it as a reading for completeness. Most of it is about why to avoid 3D, which we’ve avoided in class. (sorry)
Graph Readings
A problem is that the basic layout algorithms (that you are likely to use) don’t get discussed in writing. If you’re interested in the layout algorithms, they are in the optional readings. Fortunately, they are implemented in various toolkits (although, they are interesting).
(required) Arrange Networks and Trees (Chapter 9 from Munzner’s Visualization Analysis & Design) (Munzner-09-ArrangeNetworks.pdf 0.9mb).
This will get the basic ideas across.
(required) TreeVis.net has a huge number of visualizations of trees. Look at the pictures and try to get a sense of how many different ways there are to do this.
Looking at this will help you get a sense of the range of opportunities.
(required) skim this! Gibson, H., Faith, J., & Vickers, P. (2013). A survey of two-dimensional graph layout techniques for information visualisation. Information Visualization, 12(3–4), 324–357. (doi) (author verson) (direct PDF)
This is an intimidating, long survey. Just skim over it to get a sense of the range of solutions. It is really good at pointing out the basic algorithms.
Optional Graph Readings
There is a lot out there. One good general source for background is the book “Handbook of graph drawing and visualization” - which you can find drafts of the chapters online. In particular, the Chapter on Force-Directed Layout (at least the beginning parts of it) gives a review of the classical algorithms.
- (optional) Kobourov, S. (2016). Force-Directed Drawing Algorithms. In Handbook of Graph Drawing (pp. 383–408). (pdf online)
For a modern algorithm for small to medium graphs:
(optional) Dwyer, T. (2009). Scalable, Versatile and Simple Constrained Graph Layout. Computer Graphics Forum, 28(3), 991–998. (pdf) (doi)
It’s a “modern” take on graph layout (even though it is 15 years old). It considers many aspects about what makes for a good layout, and uses real optimization methods to achieve them. The method gives a sense of the evolution and all the methods that came before it). This might be a little too CS-technical for most people. Don’t worry about the details of the algorithms, but get a sense of the kinds of things the best algorithms try to achieve. In practice, people usually use simpler algorithms (force-directed layout)
(optional) Tamara Munzner. 15 Views of a Node-Link Graph: An InfoVis Portfolio, Google TechTalks, Mountain View CA, 6/06. Talk video (Video on YouTube) (slides)
Tamara Munzner gave a talk that gets across the point that there are many ways to show a graph. It gets the point across that there are lots of design choices and options. Plus, you’ll get a sense of the person behind the book (although, this was long ago). But, sitting through the hour is a bit much – so it’s OK to just watch a little bit and read through the slides.