Skip to main content Accessibility help
×
Hostname: page-component-848d4c4894-m9kch Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-05-27T19:03:26.125Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

6 - Network Visualization

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  06 April 2023

Tom Brughmans
Affiliation:
Aarhus Universitet, Denmark
Matthew A. Peeples
Affiliation:
Arizona State University
Get access

Summary

When many people (network researchers included) think about networks, the first thing that pops into their head is the classic network node-link diagram. In its simplest form a network graph is just a collection of points on a page representing entities of some sort with lines drawn to indicate the connections among those entities. Network visuals can be small and include only a few actors and relations where structural patterns and positions can be clearly observed. They can also be dizzyingly complex bundles of thousands, tens of thousands, or more entities and connections where general textures of relations and topological features might be visible but the positions of most nodes and edges are obscured by complexity. In either case, such visuals can paint a fascinating picture of a dataset and help a researcher recognize, interpret, and explain patterns in all manner of relational data that would otherwise be difficult to identify or communicate even with the myriad of network metrics available.

Type
Chapter
Information
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2023

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Further Reading

The following references provide detailed discussions of a variety of visualization techniques or evaluations of different kinds of visualizations for communicating information to a diversity of intended audiences.

The following references provide general information on the design of data-based visualizations and design.

Bach, Benjamin, and van Garderen, Mereke 2023 Beyond the Node-Link Diagram: A Fast Forward about Network Visualisation for Archaeology. In The Oxford Handbook of Archaeological Network Research, edited by Brughmans, Tom, Mills, Barbara J., Munson, Jessica L., and Peeples, Matthew A.. Oxford University Press, Oxford.Google Scholar
Beck, Fabian, Burch, Michael, Diehl, Stephan, and Weiskopf, Daniel 2017 A Taxonomy and Survey of Dynamic Graph Visualization. Computer Graphics Forum 36(1):133159.Google Scholar
Kandel, Sean, Heer, Jeffrey, Plaisant, Catherine, Kennedy, Jessie, van Ham, Frank, Riche, Nathalie Henry, Weaver, Chris, Lee, Bongshin, Brodbeck, Dominique, and Buono, Paolo 2011 Research Directions in Data Wrangling: Visualizations and Transformations for Usable and Credible Data. Information Visualization 10(4):271288.Google Scholar
Schöttler, Sarah, Yang, Yalong, Pfister, Hanspeter, and Bach, Benjamin 2021 Visualizing and Interacting with Geospatial Networks: A Survey and Design Space. Computer Graphics Forum 40(6):533.Google Scholar
Healy, Kieran 2018 Data Visualization: A Practical Introduction. Princeton University Press, Princeton, NJ.Google Scholar
Schwabish, Jonathan 2021 Better Data Visualizations: A Guide for Scholars, Researchers, and Wonks. Columbia University Press, New York.Google Scholar
Tufte, Edward R. 2001 The Visual Display of Quantitative Information. Graphics Press, Cheshire, CT.Google Scholar
Wilke, Claus O. 2019 Fundamentals of Data Visualization: A Primer on Making Informative and Compelling Figures. O’Reilly Media, Sebastopol, CA.Google Scholar
Yau, Nathan 2011 Visualize This: The FlowingData Guide to Design, Visualization, and Statistics. John Wiley & Sons, Hoboken, NJ.Google Scholar
Bach, Benjamin, and van Garderen, Mereke 2023 Beyond the Node-Link Diagram: A Fast Forward about Network Visualisation for Archaeology. In The Oxford Handbook of Archaeological Network Research, edited by Brughmans, Tom, Mills, Barbara J., Munson, Jessica L., and Peeples, Matthew A.. Oxford University Press, Oxford.Google Scholar
Beck, Fabian, Burch, Michael, Diehl, Stephan, and Weiskopf, Daniel 2017 A Taxonomy and Survey of Dynamic Graph Visualization. Computer Graphics Forum 36(1):133159.Google Scholar
Kandel, Sean, Heer, Jeffrey, Plaisant, Catherine, Kennedy, Jessie, van Ham, Frank, Riche, Nathalie Henry, Weaver, Chris, Lee, Bongshin, Brodbeck, Dominique, and Buono, Paolo 2011 Research Directions in Data Wrangling: Visualizations and Transformations for Usable and Credible Data. Information Visualization 10(4):271288.Google Scholar
Schöttler, Sarah, Yang, Yalong, Pfister, Hanspeter, and Bach, Benjamin 2021 Visualizing and Interacting with Geospatial Networks: A Survey and Design Space. Computer Graphics Forum 40(6):533.Google Scholar
Healy, Kieran 2018 Data Visualization: A Practical Introduction. Princeton University Press, Princeton, NJ.Google Scholar
Schwabish, Jonathan 2021 Better Data Visualizations: A Guide for Scholars, Researchers, and Wonks. Columbia University Press, New York.Google Scholar
Tufte, Edward R. 2001 The Visual Display of Quantitative Information. Graphics Press, Cheshire, CT.Google Scholar
Wilke, Claus O. 2019 Fundamentals of Data Visualization: A Primer on Making Informative and Compelling Figures. O’Reilly Media, Sebastopol, CA.Google Scholar
Yau, Nathan 2011 Visualize This: The FlowingData Guide to Design, Visualization, and Statistics. John Wiley & Sons, Hoboken, NJ.Google Scholar
Bach, Benjamin, and van Garderen, Mereke 2023 Beyond the Node-Link Diagram: A Fast Forward about Network Visualisation for Archaeology. In The Oxford Handbook of Archaeological Network Research, edited by Brughmans, Tom, Mills, Barbara J., Munson, Jessica L., and Peeples, Matthew A.. Oxford University Press, Oxford.Google Scholar
Beck, Fabian, Burch, Michael, Diehl, Stephan, and Weiskopf, Daniel 2017 A Taxonomy and Survey of Dynamic Graph Visualization. Computer Graphics Forum 36(1):133159.Google Scholar
Kandel, Sean, Heer, Jeffrey, Plaisant, Catherine, Kennedy, Jessie, van Ham, Frank, Riche, Nathalie Henry, Weaver, Chris, Lee, Bongshin, Brodbeck, Dominique, and Buono, Paolo 2011 Research Directions in Data Wrangling: Visualizations and Transformations for Usable and Credible Data. Information Visualization 10(4):271288.Google Scholar
Schöttler, Sarah, Yang, Yalong, Pfister, Hanspeter, and Bach, Benjamin 2021 Visualizing and Interacting with Geospatial Networks: A Survey and Design Space. Computer Graphics Forum 40(6):533.Google Scholar
Healy, Kieran 2018 Data Visualization: A Practical Introduction. Princeton University Press, Princeton, NJ.Google Scholar
Schwabish, Jonathan 2021 Better Data Visualizations: A Guide for Scholars, Researchers, and Wonks. Columbia University Press, New York.Google Scholar
Tufte, Edward R. 2001 The Visual Display of Quantitative Information. Graphics Press, Cheshire, CT.Google Scholar
Wilke, Claus O. 2019 Fundamentals of Data Visualization: A Primer on Making Informative and Compelling Figures. O’Reilly Media, Sebastopol, CA.Google Scholar
Yau, Nathan 2011 Visualize This: The FlowingData Guide to Design, Visualization, and Statistics. John Wiley & Sons, Hoboken, NJ.Google Scholar

Save book to Kindle

To save this book to your Kindle, first ensure coreplatform@cambridge.org is added to your Approved Personal Document E-mail List under your Personal Document Settings on the Manage Your Content and Devices page of your Amazon account. Then enter the ‘name’ part of your Kindle email address below. Find out more about saving to your Kindle.

Note you can select to save to either the @free.kindle.com or @kindle.com variations. ‘@free.kindle.com’ emails are free but can only be saved to your device when it is connected to wi-fi. ‘@kindle.com’ emails can be delivered even when you are not connected to wi-fi, but note that service fees apply.

Find out more about the Kindle Personal Document Service.

Available formats
×

Save book to Dropbox

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Dropbox.

Available formats
×

Save book to Google Drive

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Google Drive.

Available formats
×