Year: 2026
Type: preprint
Abstract: Graphs are commonly visualized in 2D, where humans readily interpret spatial relationships, yet such layouts often distort higher-dimensional structure. We propose to embed graphs in high-dimensional space and search for informative 2D viewpoints that optimize aesthetic and readability metrics (e.g., edge crossings and angular resolution), enabled by a novel differentiable surrogate for edge crossings. Numerical experiments show that these viewpoints consistently outperform standard 2D layouts, and can even surpass methods explicitly designed to optimize these metrics. We further introduce DataFly, an interactive system for exploring multiple candidate viewpoints through seamless navigation. A usability study demonstrates that our approach reveals structural patterns that remain hidden in conventional 2D visualizations.
Source: arXiv (Cornell University)
Institutions: Northeastern University, Technical University of Munich
Subfield: Computer Vision and Pattern Recognition
Field: Computer Science
Domain: Physical Sciences
Open Access status: green
OpenAlex ID: W7166800529
Cites:
Cited by:
Related to: