ChordLink: A New Hybrid Visualization Model

TL;DR

ChordLink is a hybrid visualization model that combines chord diagrams and node-link diagrams to effectively represent both dense communities and the overall structure of complex networks, enhancing interpretability.

Contribution

The paper introduces ChordLink, a novel hybrid visualization approach that integrates dense subgraph representations into global network layouts, addressing visualization challenges of sparse and dense network regions.

Findings

Enables interactive highlighting of communities within the global network.

Successfully applied to real-world networks demonstrating clarity and stability.

Addresses algorithmic challenges in hybrid network visualization.

Abstract

Many real-world networks are globally sparse but locally dense. Typical examples are social networks, biological networks, and information networks. This double structural nature makes it difficult to adopt a homogeneous visualization model that clearly conveys an overview of the network and the internal structure of its communities at the same time. As a consequence, the use of hybrid visualizations has been proposed. For instance, NodeTrix combines node-link and matrix-based representations (Henry et al., 2007). In this paper we describe ChordLink, a hybrid visualization model that embeds chord diagrams, used to represent dense subgraphs, into a node-link diagram, which shows the global network structure. The visualization is intuitive and makes it possible to interactively highlight the structure of a community while keeping the rest of the layout stable. We discuss the intriguing algorithmic challenges behind the ChordLink model, present a prototype system, and illustrate case studies on real-world networks.