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Semi‐Automatic Editing of Graphs with Customized Layouts
Author(s) -
Gladisch S.,
Schumann H.,
Ernst M.,
Füllen G.,
Tominski C.
Publication year - 2014
Publication title -
computer graphics forum
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.578
H-Index - 120
eISSN - 1467-8659
pISSN - 0167-7055
DOI - 10.1111/cgf.12394
Subject(s) - computer science , visualization , graph drawing , graph layout , human–computer interaction , gesture , representation (politics) , key (lock) , graph , node (physics) , information retrieval , theoretical computer science , computer graphics (images) , data mining , artificial intelligence , computer security , structural engineering , politics , political science , law , engineering
Usually visualization is applied to gain insight into data. Yet consuming the data in form of visual representation is not always enough. Instead, users need to edit the data, preferably through the same means used to visualize them. In this work, we present a semi‐automatic approach to visual editing of graphs. The key idea is to use an interactive EditLens that defines where an edit operation affects an already customized and established graph layout. Locally optimal node positions within the lens and edge routes to connected nodes are calculated according to different criteria. This spares the user much manual work, but still provides sufficient freedom to accommodate application‐dependent layout constraints. Our approach utilizes the advantages of multi‐touch gestures, and is also compatible with classic mouse and keyboard interaction. Preliminary user tests have been conducted with researchers from bio‐informatics who need to manually maintain a slowly, but constantly growing molecular network. As the user feedback indicates, our solution significantly improves the editing procedure applied so far.