Visualize network above a world map [closed]

StackOverflow https://stackoverflow.com/questions/22541611

  •  18-06-2023
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Question

Well I have a network dataset in NodeXL and I am trying to visualize it on a world map. My dataset has

  • Nodes with an attribute of a country
  • Links. Unweighted connections between the nodes

I tried to do it with NodeXL and exporting the file and importing to Gephi. But, I cannot find a way to visualize it on a world map in base of the attribute of nodes.

Also, I know about D3.js but I cannot find any example or tutorial with networks on maps.

Can you please provide me with examples in NodeXL, Gephi, D3.js or any other library to do this.

Imagine the result something like this:

Facebook connections

Was it helpful?

Solution

In Gephi, you can use a map-based layout to visualize your network based on node location. You need to have two attributes containing the geocoded coordinates of your nodes: latitude and longitude. There are two plugins you can use for the visualization (neither comes with Gephi by default, you have to install them from Tools -> Plugins):

  • GeoLayout - when you apply that one, you have to specify the names of the attributes where longitude and latitude are recorded and select a projection (e.g. Mercator). Your nodes will be laid out accordingly.
  • Map of countries - that's a plugin that displays a (fairly crude - not too detailed) outline map as a background to your network.

You can use both in sequence - though frankly I've had more success using GeoLayout, exporting the result to a vector graphic, an overlaying it on top of a map image. If your network is large and nicely spread across the geographic area, you won't even need to overlay it on a map - it will already look like one. In the Facebook visualization you've posted above for example, the outlines of continents emerge just based on where nodes/users are concentrated.

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