Real-world networks, e.g. the social relations or world-wide-web graphs,
exhibit both small-world and scale-free behaviour. We interpret lattice
triangulations as planar graphs by identifying triangulation vertices with
graph nodes and one-dimensional simplices with edges. Since these
triangulations are ergodic with respect to a certain Pachner flip, applying
different Monte-Carlo simulations enables us to calculate average properties of
random triangulations, as well as canonical ensemble averages using an energy
functional that is approximately the variance of the degree distribution. All
considered triangulations have clustering coefficients comparable with real
world graphs, for the canonical ensemble there are inverse temperatures with
small shortest path length independent of system size. Tuning the inverse
temperature to a quasi-critical value leads to an indication of scale-free
behaviour for degrees k≥5. Using triangulations as a random graph model
can improve the understanding of real-world networks, especially if the actual
distance of the embedded nodes becomes important.Comment: 17 pages, 6 figures, will appear in New J. Phy