Quilted Graphs
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Date
2010-01-05
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Abstract
Layered graphs find use in many applications today, including flow charts, business processes, and genealogical diagrams. Traditional means of depicting this data are similar to depictions of unlayered node-link graphs, with each layer's nodes grouped into a line. This type of diagram becomes increasingly difficult to use as the number of nodes and links increases, presenting a scalability issue. We suggest quilted graphs as a better scaling alternative to traditional depictions. Quilted graphs draw on the strengths of matrix-style depictions already in use for unlayered graphs to reduce the impact of graph size on graph legibility. By combining positional encoding from matrix-style depictions with other means of link encoding, they can also be made more compact than matrix depictions. We have developed prototype software to create these graphs, and interactive behavior has been added to enhance their usability. Several applications of quilted graphs are suggested and demonstrated in place of existing diagrams including SAS's activity-based management (ABM) data, online analytical processing (OLAP) hierarchies, and genealogical diagrams.
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graph depiction, layered graph
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Degree
MS
Discipline
Computer Science
