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Title: The Senators Problem: A Design Space of Node Placement Methods for Geospatial Network Visualization (Short Paper)
Geographic network visualizations often require assigning nodes to geographic coordinates, but this can be challenging when precise node locations are undefined. We explore this problem using U.S. senators as a case study. Each state has two senators, and thus it is difficult to assign clear individual locations. We devise eight different node placement strategies ranging from geometric approaches such as state centroids and longest axis midpoints to data-driven methods using population centers and home office locations. Through expert evaluation, we found that specific coordinates such as senators’ office locations and state centroids are preferred strategies, while random placements and the longest axis method are least favored. The findings also highlight the importance of aligning node placement with research goals and avoiding potentially misleading encodings. This paper contributes to future advancements in geospatial network visualization software development and aims to facilitate more effective exploratory spatial data analysis.  more » « less
Award ID(s):
2045271
PAR ID:
10616849
Author(s) / Creator(s):
; ; ; ; ; ;
Editor(s):
Adams, Benjamin; Griffin, Amy L; Scheider, Simon; McKenzie, Grant
Publisher / Repository:
Schloss Dagstuhl – Leibniz-Zentrum für Informatik
Date Published:
Volume:
315
ISSN:
1868-8969
ISBN:
978-3-95977-330-0
Page Range / eLocation ID:
19:1-19:9
Subject(s) / Keyword(s):
Spatial networks Political networks Social networks Geovisualization Node placement Human-centered computing → Geographic visualization Human-centered computing → Graph drawings
Format(s):
Medium: X Size: 9 pages; 7125721 bytes Other: application/pdf
Size(s):
9 pages 7125721 bytes
Right(s):
Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International license; info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess
Sponsoring Org:
National Science Foundation
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