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example, it is apparent now that New Jersey is a net producer of goods, and
many of those goods flow to New York and Pennsylvania. It is also clear that
Floridaisanetconsumer.Byadjustingspatialpositiontobetterspacenodes
while preserving spatial
relationships
, more information can be shown.
Figure 13-4:
Using post-geospatial layout adjustments to give each node
uncontested space provides room for more expressive links. Here, New
Jersey is revealed as a net producer of goods, and Florida as a net
consumer.
Small World Grouping
Another technique that can be useful in structuring a spatial network
representation for legibility is to
group small worlds
. This technique can
be appropriate if the links between physical nodes are abstract relationships
rather than routes, as in this case here. The small world phenomenon in
graphs is closely associated with strong clusters and cliques or near-cliques
in that it describes a set of nodes that are highly interconnected and
significantly less connected to those outside the world. They can be
predefined by logical business divisions, or they can be computed.
Small worlds lend themselves well to grouping and hierarchical nesting to
produceanetworkviewwherelinksdonotcrossothernodesorlinks.Inthis
