Point-and-Click Graph Tools - Graph Analysis and Visualization - page 220

Chapter 7
Point-and-Click Graph Tools
As you've read through the previous chapters, you have learned about the
process for graph analysis and visualization. It's now time to consider the
tools that you can use to analyze and visualize graphs.
A number of good point-and-click graph analysis and visualization tools are
available to explore modestly sized graphs. These tools can provide quick
insights without requiring any programming. Note that point-and-click tools
arenotnecessarilyasquickandeasytouseasyoumightexpect,soallowtime
to learn the software and its idiosyncrasies.
In the writing of this topic, the following point-and-click tools have been
used. No single point-and-click tool is best; each tool has specific strengths.
• Excel —This is effective for data cleansing, data preparation, and the
visualization of small-scale matrices. Free alternatives (such as Google
Spreadsheet) can be used for some of these tasks. (See
http://products.office.com/en-us/excel or http://docs.google.com .)
• NodeXL —This is a free plug-in for Excel that provides direct graph
import from social networks and e-mail, as well as some visualization
capabilities. (See http://nodexl.codeplex.com / .)
• Gephi —This is a free, popular graph analysis and visualization software
package with extensive data import/export capabilities, rich layout
capabilities, and additional third-party plug-ins. (See
https://gephi.github.io/ .)
• Cytoscape —This is a free, powerful graph analysis and visualization
software package with some capabilities beyond Gephi, including
multiple links between the same pair of nodes, and a very wide variety of
visual attributes. (See http://www.cytoscape.org/ . )
• yEd —This is a free graph layout and analysis package with a wide variety
of edge layouts and labeling options. (See www.yworks.com/en/
products/yfiles/yed/ .)
This chapter takes a closer look at each of these tools.