Authors:
Felix Brodkorb
1
;
Manuel Kopp
1
;
Arjan Kuijper
2
and
Tatiana von Landesberger
1
Affiliations:
1
TU Darmstadt, Germany
;
2
Fraunhofer IGD, Germany
Keyword(s):
Geographic Networks, Graph Generators, Graph Editors.
Related
Ontology
Subjects/Areas/Topics:
Abstract Data Visualization
;
Computer Vision, Visualization and Computer Graphics
;
Graph Visualization
;
Spatial Data Visualization
;
Uncertainty Visualization
Abstract:
Nodes in real world networks often have a geographic position. In many cases such as for simulation or optimization,
there is a need for non-trivial synthetic geo-located networks. As synthetic datasets are required
to have specific properties such as connectivity and geographic distribution, often networks need to be generated.
However, their creation is cumbersome if done purely by hand, and inflexible if done fully automated.
Here, we present a framework for creating artificial geographic located networks in a visually interactive way.
We designed our framework with the what-you-see-is-what-you-get principle in mind, i.e. showing the (intermediate)
results of the interactive creation process at any time and allowing the user to adjust the network
iteratively. This design allows our system to be also used as a simple viewer for networks that have incomplete
location information. Our approach consists of two steps: (1) Creating the network topology and (2) assigning
locations to its
nodes. Our half automatic system enables the user to easily set the location of the nodes to predefined
areas like countries, states, and urban regions, while still being able to flexibly and interactively control
the creation process. We show the utility of our system by creating a real-world-like geo-located network.
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