Hierarchical Focus+Context Heterogeneous Network Visualization

Lei Shi, Qi Liao, Hanghang Tong, Yifan Hu, Yue Zhao, Chuang Lin

Abstract: Aggregation is a scalable strategy for dealing with large network data. Existing network visualizations have allowed nodes to be aggregated based on node attributes or network topology, each of which has its own advantages. However, very few previous systems have the capability to enjoy the best of both worlds. This paper presents OnionGraph, an integrated framework for exploratory visual analysis of large heterogeneous networks. OnionGraph allows nodes to be aggregated based on either node attributes, topology, or a mixture of both. Subsets of nodes can be flexibly split and merged under the hierarchical focus+context interaction model, supporting sophisticated analysis of the network data. Node aggregations that contain subsets of nodes are displayed with multiple concentric circles, or the onion metaphor, indicating how many levels of abstraction they contain. We have evaluated the OnionGraph tool in two real-world cases. Performance experiments demonstrate that on a commodity desktop, OnionGraph can scale to million-node networks while preserving the interactivity for analysis.