Future-Time Temporal Path Queries

Abstract

Most previous research considers processing queries on the current or previous states of a graph. In this paper, we propose processing future-time graph queries, i.e., predicting the output of a query on some future state of the graph. To process future-time queries, we present a generic approach that exploits a predictive model that provides oracles about the future state of the graph. We focus on future-time shortest path queries that given a temporal graph and two nodes return the shortest path between them at some future time. We present two algorithms each invoking a different type of oracle: (a) a link prediction oracle that given two nodes returns the probability of an edge between them, and (b) a connection prediction oracle that given a node u and a future time instance t returns the node υ that u will connect to at t. Finally, we present experimental results using off-the-shelf prediction models that provide such oracles.