JIGGLE: Java Interactive Graph Layout Environment

JIGGLE is a Java-based platform for experimenting with numerical optimization approaches to general graph layout. It can draw graphs with undirected edges, directed edges, or a mix of both. Its features include an implementation of the Barnes-Hut tree code to quickly compute inter-node repulsion forces for large graphs and an optimization procedure based on the conjugate gradient method. JIGGLE can be accessed on the World Wide Web at http://www.cs.cmu.edu/~quixote

A Numerical Optimization Approach to General Graph Drawing

Graphs are ubiquitous, finding applications in domains ranging from software engineering to computational biology. While graph theory and graph algorithms are some of the oldest, most studied fields in computer science, the problem of visualizing graphs is comparatively young. This problem, known as graph drawing, is that of transforming combinatorial graphs into geometric drawings for the purpose of visualization. Most published algorithms for drawing general graphs model the drawing problem with a physical analogy, representing a graph as a system of springs and other physical elements and then simulating the relaxation of this physical system. Solving the graph drawing problem involves both choosing a physical model and then using numerical optimization to simulate the physical system. In thi