Graph Drawing in Motion II

Carsten Friedrich, Michael E. Houle

Abstract: Enabling the user of a graph drawing system to preserve the mental map between two different layouts of a graph is a major problem. Whenever a layout in a graph drawing system is modified, the mental map of the user must be preserved. One way in which the user can be helped in understanding a change of layout is through animation of the change. In this paper, we present clustering-based strategies for identifying groups of nodes sharing a common, simple motion from initial layout to final layout. Transformation of these groups is then handled separately in order to generate a smooth animation.