Graph visualization continues to be a major challenge in the field of information visualization meanwhile gaining importance due to the power of graph-based formulations across a wide variety of domains from knowledge representation to network flow, bioinformatics and software optimization. We present LinkLayout, an open visualization framework, initially designed for the flexible composition of 2D and 3D ontology layouts.
Analysts can filter and map a graph’s attributes and structural properties to a variety of geometric forms including shape, color, and position. Using the Provider software engineering pattern, developers can extend the framework with additional mappings and layout algorithms.
The first version of our framework was designed to address the problem of ontology visualization as applied to the domain of engineering knowledge bases, specifically ontologies. Our results have shown this to be successful (See Gallery). However, our first-principles approach to the framework design and software engineering has resulted in a flexible framework that can be a used in a wide variety of domains. We will publish the code on sourceforge and released it under the liberal Apache2 license in hopes the community will adopt and extend it.