Supervised Force Directed Algorithm for the Generation of Flow Maps

Abstract

Cartographic flow maps are graphical representations for portraying the movement of objects, such as people, goods or traffic network, from one location to another. On the one hand, flow maps can reduce visual clutter by merging single representations of movement. On the other hand, flow maps are also fast to produce and simple to understand. In this paper, we present a new method for the automatic generation of flow maps. Our method is based on a theoretically grounded physical system to describe the motion and forces of attraction and repulsion between data points. Additionally, support for an optional supervision of the graph layout is also available. Finally, the cost of our algorithm is evaluated and a comparison with existing implementations is provided. Results have shown a good balance between computational complexity and the visual quality of the generated maps.