Geography Reference
In-Depth Information
Fig. 1 Histogram of log-normalized settlement-to-settlement weights (LLR distribution)
Geovisualisation of Connections and the Analysis of Spatial
Connectivity
A map many times tells more about spatial relations of data than the dataset itself.
Therefore we also expect from geovisual outcomes that geographical motives of
online social network connections could be understood deeper. There are many
possibilities to visually represent network topology, out of them some software
techniques are only capable to draw the topological structure of network (Gephi,
Netdraw), while it is possible with others to visualise geolocated flow-type infor-
mation (Flowmapper) or to perform geolocated data analysis and mapping simul-
taneously (ArcGIS). Since our needs coincide with both geovisualisation and
analysis of data we have chosen ArcGIS 10.0 to perform tasks.
Since our dataset contained information only for point-type data (coordinates of
point pairs) the line-type edges of network connection had to be calculated and
generated in order to visualise spatial connectivity. A proper solution for that was to
apply ArcGIS Data Management Tools, where XY To Line tool was useful to
convert point pairs to lines.
As a result of transformation more than 1.3 million lines were created. To
visualize network connections, however, it is not advised to draw all 1.3 million
settlement-to-settlement lines simultaneously, since the result map would become
confusing and non-interpretable. Therefore, we have chosen only the most impor-
tant ties to be drawn on the first map. One solution for that was to select ties which
were particularly often codified by users, namely to visualize settlement-to-settle-
ment lines only that covered large absolute number of connections. According to
that Fig. 2 shows network ties, which represented at least 15,000 connections. The
result map contains altogether 1996 settlement-to-settlement lines, while line width
signifies categories according to the absolute number of connections.
 
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