Layer-Edge Patterns Exploration and Presentation in Multiplex Networks: From Detail to Overview via Selections and Aggregations

摘要

Multiplex networks have been widely used to describe the multi-type connections of entities in the real world. However, researches for multiplex networks visualization unilaterally focus on the presentation of topological structure, lacking of specific high-level information presentation for quantitative comparison of interlayer structure. Users cannot participate in the exploration and freely choose the layers (or sub-graphs, regions, etc.) of interest for structural comparison. Contraposing the layer-edge patterns visual analysis tasks of multiplex networks, this paper puts forward a novel solution for exploration and analysis that tightly couples topological structure and high-level patterns. It mainly contains a multi-force directed model to realize the balanced layout of nodes in multi-layer topology, as well as two kinds of high-level patterns of which the visual representations are, respectively, designed by a familiar metaphor—that is, the similar pattern representation based on the area-proportional Venn diagrams and the interaction pattern representation based on the directed arrows. Furthermore, views association is implemented through underlying data sharing and multiple interactions which can be used to gain insights through the creation of selections of interest and produce high-level infographic-style overviews simultaneously. The experiments on real-world data demonstrate the support of the proposed method for layer-edge patterns analysis tasks in multiplex networks and the effectiveness for analyzing the multi-layer structure of multiplex networks.