Visualizations for Neo4j - Learning Neo4j - page 141

Here are the three mechanisms to keep in mind:
• Gravity : In order for a graph visualization to make sense to a user, things
that belong together need to be presented together. These items will need
to gravitate to one another using some kind of force that will be calculated
based on the characteristics of the nodes and relationships that will be stored
in the Neo4j database management system.
• Charge : By the same logic, there needs to be a force that keeps items apart
from one another. We call this charge , as we know from a long-forgotten
course in school that substances with a similar positive or negative charge
will repel each other. Similarly, we will associate a charge to different items
in the graph to keep them from overlapping and make sure that they are
visualized apart.
• Springs : As with many other data visualization solutions, it helps the
effectiveness of the graph visualization greatly if the solution is presented in
a dynamic and vivid fashion. In a graph database visualization like the ones
that we want to hook up to Neo4j, this often means that we would appreciate
some kind of springy behavior that displays the data in a way that is not as
static as usual but that moves around on the screen as it is built or as it is
manipulated by the user. The spring analogy aims to explain that we will
appreciate the type of visualization that will go back and forth a bit before
it stabilizes on the screen.
With these three underlying techniques, a number of very interesting visualization
librariesandfull-ledgedsolutionshavebeenbuilt.Wewilltakethenextcouple
ofsectionstohighlightthesebrielysothatyouknowwhereyoucanindsome
potential components of your Neo4j solution.
Open source visualization libraries
Many developers that use Neo4j as their Graph Database Management System end
uphavingsomeveryspeciicneedstovisualizethenetworkandpresentthattotheir
end users in an integrated way as part of their application. These Neo4j users, who
are typically not afraid of getting their hands dirty with some code, will typically
liketobuildthatvisualizationusingalibraryoftoolsthatittheirpurpose.There
are several tools out there that could be used, so let's give you a little overview of
the most popular ones.