Node Overlap Removal Algorithms: A Comparative Study

TL;DR

This paper reviews 21 quality metrics for node overlap removal algorithms, selects representative metrics, and compares 8 algorithms across 854 graphs to aid visualization design choices.

Contribution

It provides a comprehensive comparison of 8 node overlap removal algorithms using a systematic metric selection and evaluation on extensive datasets.

Findings

Identified key metrics for evaluating overlap removal quality

Compared algorithm performance across diverse graph datasets

Provided insights for selecting suitable algorithms based on metrics

Abstract

Many algorithms have been designed to remove node overlapping, and many quality criteria and associated metrics have been proposed to evaluate those algorithms. Unfortunately, a complete comparison of the algorithms based on some metrics that evaluate the quality has never been provided and it is thus difficult for a visualization designer to select the algorithm that best suits his needs. In this paper, we review 21 metrics available in the literature, classify them according to the quality criteria they try to capture, and select a representative one for each class. Based on the selected metrics, we compare 8 node overlap removal algorithms. Our experiment involves 854 synthetic and real-world graphs.