NodeTrix: a Hybrid Visualization of Social Networks

Abstract

Abstract-The need to visualize large social networks is growing as hardware capabilities make analyzing large networks feasible and many new data sets become available. Unfortunately, the visualizations in existing systems do not satisfactorily resolve the basic dilemma of being readable both for the global structure of the network and also for detailed analysis of local communities. To address this problem, we present NodeTrix, a hybrid representation for networks that combines the advantages of two traditional representations: node-link diagrams are used to show the global structure of a network, while arbitrary portions of the network can be shown as adjacency matrices to better support the analysis of communities. A key contribution is a set of interaction techniques. These allow analysts to create a NodeTrix visualization by dragging selections to and from node-link and matrix forms, and to flexibly manipulate the NodeTrix representation to explore the dataset and create meaningful summary visualizations of their findings. Finally, we present a case study applying NodeTrix to the analysis of the InfoVis 2004 coauthorship dataset to illustrate the capabilities of NodeTrix as both an exploration tool and an effective means of communicating results.

Improving Visualization of Large Hierarchical Clustering

“…However, the criticism about the arbitrary position of the clusters in the TreeMaps remains, in a lesser extent since the map are smaller and the optimal use of such kind of system requires some training from the user. Another hybrid approach exists in other tools such as NodeTrix of [18] which allows representing the content of large social networks by combining the visualization of some noticeable links within the network with the display of the adjacency matrices.…”

“…It worth noting that similar ideas were proposed by [18] in order to visualize in a compact way the content of large multi-attributes databases. However, this previous work does involve neither notions of hierarchies nor clustering.…”

Exploring the Possibilities of Embedding Heterogeneous Data Attributes in Familiar Visualizations

“…Hybrid approaches can offer two ways for exploring the same relational data. NodeTrix [17] and MatLink [18] are wellknown hybrid visualizations that take advantage of matrix and node-link diagrams for representing the relations in network data. OntoTrix [3] also combines node-links and matrices to represent ontologies.…”

Scalable graph exploration and visualization: Sensemaking challenges and opportunities

“…By offering both a zoomable matrix and a conventional node-link representation, users can smoothly switch to the view that's most useful at their discretion. Henry et al created NodeTrix [76], a hybrid graph visualization tool designed for social network analysis. NodeTrix uses a connected matrix-view to capture both the sparsity and dense communities often found in social networks.…”