Improving visual analysis of streaming networks

Abstract

Temporal networks (also known as dynamic networks) are often used to model connections that occur over time between parts of a system by using nodes and edges. In temporal networks, all nodes, edges, and times, are known and available to be used in the analysis. However, in several real-world applications, data are produced in a massive and continuous way, which is known as data stream. In this case, the volume of data may be so large that the storage may be impossible and mining tasks become more challenging. In streaming temporal networks, edges are continuously arriving in non-stationary distribution. In both temporal and streaming temporal networks, patterns related to node and edge activity are typically irregular in time, which makes the visualization of such networks helpful to gain insights about network structure and dynamics. Nevertheless, the non-stationary distribution of incoming data increases complexity and turns the streaming temporal network visualization even more challenging. Several visualization layouts have been proposed, but they all have limitations. The main challenge in this context is the amount of visual information, that increases depending on the network size and density, and causes visual clutter due to edge overlap, fine temporal resolution, and node proximity. In this thesis, we propose methods to enhance the visualization of streaming temporal networks through the manipulation of the three network dimensions, namely node, edge, and time. Specifically, we propose: (i) CNO, a visual scalable node ordering method; (ii) SEVis, a streaming edge sampling method; and (iii) a streaming method that adapts the temporal resolution according to local levels of node activity. We also present a comparative study considering the combination of these methods. We show through case studies with real-world networks that each of these methods greatly improves layout readability, thus leading to a fast and reliable decision making.