Clustering Ensemble-based Edge Bundling to Improve the Readability of Graph Drawings

Abstract

One of the commonly used techniques to improve the readability of large graph drawings is called edge bundling, which groups edges in such a way that reduces the visual complexity of the drawing. This paper proposes to treat this task as a clustering problem, using compatibility metrics to evaluate the generated solutions in an optimization pipeline, combined with a clustering ensemble approach. The goal was to solve the General-based Edge Bundling (GBEB) problem with relatively low computational costs using a method called Clustering Ensemble-based Edge Bundling (CEBEB) and evaluate the results. CEBEB proved to be a very promising alternative to solve GBEB, since it is capable of generating relatively good solutions with shorter run-times compared to an existing, well-established GBEB method.