STEP: Sequence of time-aligned edge plots

Abstract

We present sequence of time-aligned edge plots (STEP): a sequence- and edge-scalable visualization of dynamic networks and, more broadly, graph ensembles. We construct the graph sequence by ordering the individual graphs based on specific criteria, such as time for dynamic networks. To achieve scalability with respect to long sequences, we partition the sequence into equal-sized subsequences. Each subsequence is represented by a horizontal axis placed between two vertical axes. The horizontal axis depicts the order within the subsequence, while the two vertical axes depict the source and destination vertices. Edges within each subsequence are depicted as segmented lines extending from the source vertices on the left to the destination vertices on the right throughout the entire subsequence, and only the segments corresponding to the sequence members where the edges occur are drawn. By partitioning the sequence, STEP provides an overview of the graphs’ structural changes and avoids aspect ratio distortion. We showcase the utility of STEP for two realistic datasets. Additionally, we evaluate our approach by qualitatively comparing it against three state-of-the-art techniques using synthetic graphs with varying complexities. Furthermore, we evaluate the generalizability of STEP by applying it to a graph ensemble dataset from the architecture domain.