Ploceus: Modeling, visualizing, and analyzing tabular data as networks

Abstract

Tabular data are pervasive. Although tables often describe multivariate data without explicit definitions of a network, it may be advantageous to explore the data by modeling it as a graph or network for analysis. Even when a given table design specifies a network structure, analysts may want to look at multiple networks from different perspectives, at different levels of abstraction, and with different edge semantics. We present a system called Ploceus that offers a general approach for performing multidimensional and multilevel network–based visual analysis on multivariate tabular data. Powered by an underlying relational algebraic framework, Ploceus supports flexible construction and transformation of networks through a direct manipulation interface and integrates dynamic network manipulation with visual exploration through immediate feedback mechanisms. We report our findings on the learnability and usability of Ploceus and propose a model of user actions in visualization construction using Ploceus.