A circular layout algorithm for clustered graphs

Abstract

Visualization of information is essential for comprehension and analysis of the acquired data in any field of study. Graph layout is an important problem in information visualization and plays a crucial role in the drawing of graph-based data. There are many styles and ways to draw a graph depending on the type of the data. Clustered graph visualization is one popular aspect of the graph layout problem and there have been many studies on it. However, only a few of them focus on using circular layout to represent clusters. We present a new, elegant algorithm for layout of clustered graphs using a circular style. The algorithm is based on traditional force-directed layout scheme and uses circles to draw each cluster in the graph. In addition it can handle non-uniform node dimensions. It is the first algorithm to properly address layout of the quotient graph while considering inter-cluster relations as well as intra-cluster edge crossings. Experimental results show that the execution time and quality of the produced drawings with respect to commonly accepted layout criteria are quite satisfactory. The algorithm has been successfully implemented as part of Chisio, version 1.1. Chisio is an open source general purpose graph editor developed by i-Vis (information visualization) Research Group of Bilkent University.