GION: interactively untangled large graphs on wall-sized displays

Data sets of very large graphs are now commonplace; the scale of these graphs presents considerable difficulties for graph visualization methods. The use of interactive techniques and large screens have been proposed as two possible avenues to address these difficulties.This paper presents GION, a new skeletal animation technique for interacting with large graphs on wall-sized displays. Our technique is based on a physical simulation, and aims to enhance the users’ ability to efficiently interact with the graph visualization for exploratory analysis. We conducted a user study to evaluate our technique against standard operations available in most graph layout editors, and the study shows that the new technique produces layouts with less stress, and fewer edge crossings. GION is preferred by users, and requires significantly less mouse movement.